


When War Comes Knocking

by rareID



Series: Knock Knock [1]
Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: Anxiety, F/F, Heart-to-Heart, PTSD, Stress, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-09
Updated: 2014-04-10
Packaged: 2018-01-18 01:36:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1410163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rareID/pseuds/rareID
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nothing went as planned. Although Hans was hung for treason and the Duke imprisoned for his actions, Arendelle gained attention they never wanted and was targeted and marked for annihilation. While the population is secretly evacuated, Elsa, Anna and the guard stay behind and protect the city. Elsanna—not related.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cannon Fodder

**Author's Note:**

> _**Brief pre-story**_ : After the Great Freeze, the Southern Isles and Corona (Tangled) remain Arendelle’s allies. Other nations, however, felt threatened and banded together with the purpose of ‘destroying Elsa’, which, after some negotiation, found out it really amounted to ‘destroy you and all your people’. War was declared.
> 
> Elsa convinced Corona and the Southern Isles to renounce their loyalty ties with Arendelle in favour of declaring themselves neutral. This kept the two nations safe from cannon fodder and allowed them to became a secret safe haven to the evacuating Arendelle citizens. At this point, all citizens except volunteers (blacksmiths, runners, medics, etc) are safely in the other two nations.
> 
> War was declared two months prior to this story and forces officially engaged six weeks prior.
> 
>  _ **As for Elsanna**_ – they are not related. My version is that the King and Queen were unable to have children and had to adopt both Elsa and Anna.
> 
>  _ **Inspiration**_ : Other than imagining Elsa and Anna as badasses, actually seeing them as badasses. AKA, I found [[this]](http://dragoon23.deviantart.com/art/Anna-and-Elsa-Knight-and-Mage-431021067).
> 
> No, the armour in this fiction are not these images. Just inspired by.
> 
> Enjoy!

“The west!” Anna screams, bolting through the streets with a sword in her right hand. “They’re breaching the western ice!”

A catapulted fireball lands in front of her, barely giving her time to shield her face with her arm before she’s flat on her back.

She groans, blinking slowly. Her vision is doubled. Ringing fills her ears. She rolls sluggishly to her side. Gritting her teeth, she pushes up on an elbow and looks out over the harbor.

Hundreds of battleships fight each other, their plight masked by a thick layer of cannon smoke and small glaciers of ice that spear from the water at haphazard angles.

Wiping her cheek with the back of a gauntleted hand, she presses into the ground to get herself back upright. She grits her teeth and winces as her muscles pull and her head screams in protest. Her own laboured breathing is all she hears over the ringing as she pushes herself onto one knee. Glancing around, her vision mostly solid again, she sees her sword and helm laying on the ground several meters away.

Anna wears a commander rank ice blue elite royal guard uniform; heavy armour forged elegantly to fit her snugly and not weight on her too heavily. The colour scheme is ice blue with silver trimming with a silver snowflake on her shoulders, chest and back. Her helm, the only piece of her armour that’s almost equally as silver as it is blue, dons a medium sized baby blue plume – the only one in the entire guard.

A soldier is at her side now, asking if she’s alright. The ringing in her ears has dissipated and she nods, catching her breath as she points to her fallen equipment. The soldiers fetches them immediately, kneeling in front of her to hand them over. Anna nods again, taking the helm in her left hand and the sword in her right.

“I need soldiers in the west.” Anna says, putting on her helm and pushing somewhat unsteadily to her feet. The soldier follows.

“We’re wearing thin here as it is, ma’am.” The soldier says. Off the alarm in Anna’s eyes, he clarifies: “Most are out with exhaustion, not wounds.” Another fireball, barely missing land, lands in the sea to their immediate right. Water rains down on them. Anna growls and shakes her free hand to rid it of water. The effort is mostly wasted.

“Well, this is their longest assault yet.” Anna reasons, glancing to the harbour as a particularly large spear of ice spikes up and impales an enemy ship. “Either they’re stupid or too clever for their own good.” She mutters to herself, frowning.

The soldier, not hearing Anna’s last comment over the noise, says: “Far too long.” The soldier frowns as the mast of one of Arendelle’s ships splitters and falls. He turns back to Anna. “I’ll bring you to the captain to see who he has to spare.”

A large explosion ricochets through the air and shakes the ground beneath them.

Anna’s eyes widen and she whips around to the way she came, just in time to see the icy rampart splinter with cracks.

“No, no, _no!_ ” Anna screams. She turns back to the soldier, hysterical. “Give me your sword!” The man opens his mouth to protest. “Now!” Anna commands. The soldier’s mouth snaps shut with a click and he unsheathes his sword, handing it over. Anna grabs it and, as she runs away, screams: “Get me soldiers!”

Anna, now with a sword in either hand, barrels back through the city. Her heart drops as she sees the first chunk of ice dislodge from the wall and, by some blessing, crash on the enemy side instead of her own.

She skids to a stop on the cobble stone a few meters from the ice wall and stares up at it as her archers scramble to get off. Her soldiers on the ground, scarce and scattered, turn to Anna – their eyes sparking with hope as their princess returns.

“Status!” Anna shouts, dread sinking in the pit of her stomach as the wall continues to splinter and fall. An officer in teal armour, looking worse for wear, runs over to Anna with a slight limp.

“After you left the assault only got heavier. It seems that, for the most part, the majority of the crumbling is right in the middle of the wall. By the look of it, even with our numbers, we should be able to hold them off in the small space – they won’t be able to overwhelm us with numbers if they don’t have the space to do it.” As he finishes, another large clunk splits off and crumbles, falling equally on the enemy side as their side. Anna, the captain and the soldiers take a started step back, even though they’re already a safe distance away.

Anna is broken from her reverie as she sees the last archer scramble off the fragmenting stairs and run away from the wall. She takes command and, using her swords to point people in different directions, bellows: “Soldiers convene here. Archers in the back. The wall is crumbling in the middle – we’re going to engage at the opening, using space to our advantage in retrospect of their numbers. _Do not_ let them break through.”

Anna stands in the front of the loose forming phalanx, no more than fifty strong – thirty strong if you discount the archers.

The last of the ice falls, leaving a haphazard opening two meters wide with a meter high pile of sharp ice piled at the bottom. A booming cheer rises from the other side. Anna pales.

Time seems to slow as Anna’s force, almost collectively slowing their breathing, waits to see the invading force over the mound.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

The clambering and clang of metal on ice. Anna’s force tenses.

Four seconds. Five seconds. Six seconds.

The first soldier, clad in red and gray armour, staggers to the top of the pile of jagged ice. An arrow made of ice pierces through his chest. Anna’s company cheers. Anna gives a wary grin.

Now piles of soldiers start stumbling their way over the mount, the jagged ice just as likely to kill them as what awaits them on the other side. Anna watches as the invading soldiers die just as frequently to falling and getting skewered as they do to Arendelle’s arrows.

Anna eyes feel leaden as weariness suddenly takes hold of her; the sheer number of invading soldiers draining her energy.

 _When’s the last time I slept?_ Anna wonders, suppressing a yawn. _God, it was the last time I was in the infirmary, wasn’t it?_ She frowns. That was two days ago.

She had rested and taken short, quarter hour naps in the past two days, but nothing significant enough to really count as ‘sleeping’. The last time she drank water was three hours ago when a water skin was literally shoved in her face, and the last time she used the bathroom was twelve hours ago. The latter, considering how fast she’s burning water, is the least of her concerns. Food, however, is. The last thing she ate was dried beef five hours ago in a rushed attempt at a late lunch before rushing back to the western wall.

She would have taken better care of herself if the current assault hadn’t been going on for the better part of last twenty-five hours.

The first of the red and gray soldiers clambers down the embankment, quickly followed by some of his comrades. The captain beheads the first soldier before the guy can catch his bearings.

Anna raises her dominate sword above her head and screams: “For Arendelle!”

Her soldiers roar in response and the tiny phalanx engages the enemy.

Anna, front and center, swings her blades in arching motions, cutting down every soldier as quickly as come to her. The enemy is off-balanced as soon as they get off the ice and, as tired as she is, takes absolute advantage of it.

Sword blocks sword, other bashes shield away and stabs enemy soldier through the neck.

Sword slashes thigh, the other pierces side ribs and lungs in the space between armoured plates.

Double sword bash on shield, enemy soldier stumbles – an Arendelle soldier kills them.

Anna grits her teeth as she deflects, redirects and attacks soldier after soldier, with more clambering over the broken barrier. Enemy archers have started to appear over the pile of broken ice – most are taken down by Anna’s archers almost as soon as they appear, so luckily none have been lucky enough to get in a good shot.

But Anna wonders – how many arrows do her archers have left? Sure Elsa created a shit ton, enough to be completely overwhelming, but how many have already been used up? Surely new supplies have already been sent or are on the way, right?

There’s an underground storage full of all manners of ice equipment, stocked to the brim and overflowing for cases such as this – when Elsa is fighting elsewhere and more provisions are required. It’s also for cases after battle when Elsa doesn’t have the strength to replenish individual stocks.

This storage room is equipped primarily with weapons (such as arrows, swords, shields, javelins, spears, cannon balls, etc), secondly with replacement armour (if someone’s is too damaged to use or if they need a replacement piece, etc) and lastly with barricade material. Adjoining the storage room is the medical ward and the barracks.

The entire underground system is a heavily fortified maze, manned by brave Arendelle citizens who decided to stay instead of relocate.

Elsa created these underground tunnels—as big and complicated as the first floor of the castle, really—when the war declaration arrived. She knew it would take about two weeks for the first of the ships to arrive, so she over exerted herself – using her powers and her creatures to carve, create and build the underground system that now sustains them. It had taken her a week and a half to complete—with reinforced walls and stocked to the brim with equipment (for when regular equipment failed or ran out)—and then spent three straight days resting.

Oh, Elsa.

Anna’s eyes soften. She hasn’t seen the older girl for three days, and as much as Anna tries to convince herself that they’re both too busy to see each other, she finds herself sorely missing older girl.

A shield bashes into Anna’s face.

Anna stumbles back, her helm ringing from contact. Well, that’s what she gets for not paying attention. Surprise.

The captain jumps in and slashes at the soldier, taking their attention from his princess and commander.

Just as the soldier turns to the captain, Anna recovers and steps forward – stabbing her sword down into the soldier’s trapezius and pushing until it pierces the man’s heart. She rips it back out, the man dropping like a sack, and continues fending off the assault.

“Daydreaming, princess?” The captain asks, slicing open someone’s leg and stabbing them through the chest.

Despite herself, Anna laughs. “By now I could be hallucinating and not be any the wiser. However, if I am, it has to be some really backwards torture if I’m imagining this instead of a large boat of chocolate.”

The captain barks a surprised laugh. “For chocolate!” He cries as a new foe engages him.

Anna snorts. “For chocolate!”

The Arendelle soldiers in range to hear the ridiculous mantra, smile. Their moods, just from the bizarre princess they have as a leader, lift significantly. They can live with death if Anna is fighting with them, making the world brighter despite all expectations and reason.

Maybe, if nothing else, her optimism will let her get out of this alive.

 

 

*

Meanwhile, Elsa deals with the situation on the sea.

Elsa—wearing ice blue double enforced leather mage-wear with custom ice armour covering her chest, arms, back and legs—runs across the frozen water at the entry of the fjord.

More enemy ships—with the assault lasting so long and the drain of Elsa’s power getting to her—have broken through the ice barrier then Elsa is proud of.

She glances into the harbour, her breathing coming in heavy huffs. The plight of Arendelle’s wooden ships is substantial, especially the ones with ice replacement parts – the wood beaten too badly for the ice to make that much of a difference. The ice ships—with riveted floors so the crew won’t slip and fall—are faring better, but still look worse for wear.

Gritting her teeth, she turns back to where she’s running – a red and gray ship that’s just about to exit the thick, broken ice-flow. Holding out her arm to the path the ship left open, she freezes it back over, successfully trapping a ship that had been following it through.

She summons a staircase and runs up, jumping on the deck of the enemy vessel. Creating two ice swords, she slashes and hacks her way through the naval soldiers, leaving a mess of guts and blood in her wake.

“Queen Elsa!”

Elsa snaps her head up, locking eyes with the captain as he steps down from the bridge, a flintlock raised to fire. She freezes the pistol instantly and he drops it with a hiss. The crew, weapons at the ready, hover along the outer edge of the deck to allow the coming exchange.

“Captain.” Elsa growls, sneering.

The captain pulls out his sword and examines it, as if this was just another petty battle. The slight quivering in his hand, however, gives away the cocky gesture.

“You could have lodged our ship in ice.” He says, casually lowering his sword and looking to Elsa. “Or you could have sent a great pillar of ice right though our hull. Or you could have froze over the ship and everyone on board.” He gives the queen an oily smile. “Thus I can only assume your powers are reaching their limit. Why don’t you just surrender, hm?”

Elsa gives a bitter, humourless laugh. “I could have easily destroyed your ship, but why would I when I could board, destroy your crew, and take your fine, fine ship and add it to in my armada?” The captain, if only for a second, falters. “As you can see . . .” Elsa turns, aims one of her swords at an enemy ship already in the fjord, and pulls the blade up. Ice cascades from under the ship and spikes right through its hull.

She turns back to the captain. He is visibly paler than he was two seconds prior.

Admittedly the captain is closer to the truth than Elsa is willing to admit. After being in combat for so long, the physical and mental strain are all but pulling her apart. On average she gives herself less than a half an hour before she’s passing out from exhaustion. She would have already, she reasons, if her body wasn’t pumping a seemingly endless stream of adrenaline through her veins.

This bombardment has to end soon, or Arendelle isn’t going to make it.

“. . . My powers are more than able to destroy your ship.” Elsa says, finishing her previous sentence. She points a sword to the captain, aimed at his chest. “And I am more than able to destroy you.” She lowers her sword. “But I give you a choice.” The captain frowns. The crew murmur between themselves. “You can either fight, and your whole crew will be slaughtered, or you can order your crew to evacuate and get out of this alive. Either way, I’m taking your ship.”

The captain narrows his eyes. “Why would you spare us? That’s that many more soldiers who are still piled up against you.”

Elsa smiles bitterly. “There’s been so much death that I find myself praying maybe, just maybe, some of you just won’t come back. So, what do you say? Do you want to fight or do you want to live?” The captain narrows his eyes and examines Elsa cautiously.

In the end, whether he wants to accept or not, his loyalty wins out. He raises his sword. “I came here to defeat Arendelle, so I will fight.”

Elsa squeezes her eyes shut—as if fighting a massive headache—and rubs them with the back of her hand. “For crying out loud.” She spits, a growl growing in the back of her throat. She looks back to the captain and simply stands there, staring.

One second later every soldier on deck, excluding the captain, drops dead.

The captain’s eyes widen, behind disbelief, and looks around at his crew.

“Frozen hearts.” Elsa remarks offhandedly. A spike of ice emerges from the deck, presses into the captain’s chest and pushes him until he’s hovering over the railing. “Now get off my ship.” With one more shove the captain goes tumbling off the side, a gaping wound in the center of his chest. Turning heel, Elsa makes her way to the lower deck.

Hearing the deafening crack of a splintering hull, she spins back to the waging ships, panic gripping her. Seeing it’s an enemy vessel and not one of her own, she breathes a sigh of relief and turns back around, heading below deck.

 

 

*

The enemy general, Jasper, watches the distant battle from the front of his ship. His hands grip the railing in a white-knuckle grip – things are not going well.

“Fuck!” He shouts, kicking a nearby crate. He runs his fingers through his hair and grips it, almost hard enough to rip it out.

What is he doing wrong? How can Arendelle, with one soldier for every hundred of his, destroy every attempt he throws at them? Then, when he thinks he has them worn to the ground, the Ice Queen attacks them first.

Two days ago was the latest of her assaults. She froze over the water, locking almost a third of his ships in place, and sent a horde of massive snow monsters with ice armour to attack his fleet. It took thirteen hours and immeasurable damage to finally fend off the massive beasts and, after, the ice locking in the ships disappeared – as if Elsa predicted Jasper would try to use it to send in more ground troops before it occurred to him himself.

This queen is smart, smarter than he had ever given her credit for, so he decided exhausting the mage would be the next best option. Yet, after twenty-five hours of solid military pressure the stupid, puny nation still manages to keep Jasper’s force at bay. All with two royals, without a speck of royal blood in their veins, leading the way.

“I can’t believe this.” Jasper breathes, shaking his head in pure astonishment as he tries to see the city though the cannon smoke. He kicks the barrel again.

How can Arendelle, a nation that has amounted to nothing, hold for _six weeks_ against the five biggest military nations combined? _It doesn’t make any sense._

Growling, he whips around and stalks towards the captain’s quarters. “Sound the cease-fire!” He shouts.

He can do nothing if all his soldiers are exhausted or dead.

 

 

*

Anna crashes onto her back, her left sword scattering across the broken cobblestone. Two Arendelle soldiers jump in front of her to fend off the enemy soldier that downed her, giving Anna time to recover.

Blood soaks the sliced leather between Anna’s shoulder and upper arm plate. It’s not major, but it’s enough to cause concern.

Anna scrambles to her feet, the adrenaline pumping heavily through her veins ignoring any ache and pain with the potential of slowing her down. She glances around quickly, assessing the situation.

Thirty reinforcement soldiers, who arrived a few minutes prior, have joined the ranks of her tiny squad. Fifteen of the new soldiers are archers, which Anna desperately needed, and arrived with three runners bearing an absurd amount of arrows – much to Anna’s delight.

In front, hordes of enemy soldiers are piled on the ground in front of the mound of broken ice—giving the invading soldiers even more to wade their way through—and a couple Arendelle soldiers have joined that mass.

All in all it really is a win for Arendelle, even if it doesn’t feel like one.

Anna frowns. Something’s odd. She glances to the fjord.

The ships have stopped firing.

Then she hears it, multiple horns—blown in response to the original—that signals an offer for a temporary cease-fire. By the quality and style of the sound, it’s from Jasper’s force.

Not that Anna expected anything else. Arendelle never sounds for a cease-fire first. Why? It wouldn’t work. It’d just make Jasper think he’s winning and he’d lay it on even thicker.

The sound of steel-on-steel and steel-on-ice, from the battle around her, slows to a halt. All of them, enemy and ally alike, wait and listen for Arendelle’s response – even though they can all know what the answer is going to be.

After a long, tense silence, the sound of Elsa’s ice horn echoes in kind, accepting Jasper’s offer.

Arendelle’s soldiers cheer. Anna squeals and screams in delight, throwing her arms into the air. The enemy soldiers give relieved sighs.

Anna, her grin nearly splitting her face, turns to the enemy soldiers. “It’s been a pleasure hosting all of you, but I’m sure you have somewhere else you would rather be. Please find your way out of the city and enjoy yourselves. Until we—hopefully never—meet again, goodbye!”

Turning heel, not even staying long enough to see if the red and gray soldiers do as she commands, she sheathes her dented, blood covered sword and skips away.

Humming, her grin holding strong, she waves at everyone she passes enthusiastically with jolly ‘hello’. The recipients of such gestures can’t help but answer in kind, though admittedly with less energy than the princess is able to muster.

She spies a repair crew exiting the underground system and flags them, easily skipping up to and hopping to a stop in front of them.

“Yes, princess?” One man asks. Anna barely waits for the man to finish before she starts speaking.

“The western wall needs temporary repairs until Elsa feels up to fixing it. There are also _a lot_ of dead bodies over there, so it might be a good idea to clear them out before they start to stink. I mean, I thought for a second there that I was going to pass out from the stench of the iron alone. Then again I thought I was going to pass out anyway. Ha! Anyway, if you happen to pass a medic please send them my way. I got a little ding. I’ll be over at the docks. Thanks!” Anna turns heel, her cheery domineer remaining firmly in place, and trots away.

The repair crew stares at her as she leaves, gentle but tired smiles spreading over their faces.

Anna plops herself down on a part of the dock mostly still in one piece. She takes off her helm and sets it beside her, a tired smile gracing her lips as she leans against the cracked wood behind her and stares out at the ships.

The battle is over and she is still alive, Elsa is still alive, and Arendelle is still holding strong.

Anna’s eyes flutter, her head dipping before she can right herself. She sniffs loudly and shakes her head, focusing back on the ships sailing back to port. She is going to stay awake.

She is going to be the first to greet Elsa when she returns.

 

 

*

Elsa, manning the helm of the red and gray ship she stole earlier, lines the hull parallel with one of Arendelle’s ice ships.

The other crew lays gang planks and runs over – scrambling to the anchor and tossing it overboard.

Elsa jogs down the stairs of the bridge and nods to the first lieutenant as she crosses one of the planks. The lieutenant nods in return, holding out her hand. Elsa shakes it.

“I’ve taken this ship.” Elsa states, releasing the officer’s hand. “We can use it in battle if you have the paint and flags to spare or, if you don’t, I’ll coat it in ice when I’ve recovered. Either way you’re going to have to clear the bodies. There are more below deck.” Frowning, Elsa glances at the gore around her. “Unfortunately.” She mutters. She looks back to the lieutenant. “I want to use your ship to get back to the docks. Is your captain over there?”

The officer winces, a pained grimace taking over her lips. Elsa winces in turn.

“Sorry.” Elsa says.

The lieutenant shakes her head. “It’s not your fault.” Elsa gives the girl a pointed look. The woman smiles humourlessly, but doesn’t address the irony. “I’ll split the crew, get half over here and leave half there. You’ll take command and bring in the ship.”

Elsa nods. She walks towards the gangplank, but halts before she passes the officer. Turning and laying a hand on the woman’s shoulder, Elsa smiles sadly. “Thank you.” The woman places her hand over Elsa’s and nods, tears misting her eyes.

Sniffing and pulling away, her composure retained, the officer shouts: “Half of you louts get over here. You, raise anchor and get Elsa to shore. She’s captain until my return.” The officer turns heel and strides with purpose to the bridge. “Raise the planks!”

Elsa twitches a smile and walks over to the ice ship, the plank removed in her wake.

“Let’s go home.” Elsa calls. A soft rumble of approval echoes through the crew.

When preparations are done and the ship pulls away from the captured vessel, Elsa lets her exhaustion take over her composed stature in the form of a yawn. Groaning, she dissipates her ice armour and rubs her hands vigorously over her face.

It won’t do to fall asleep before hitting shore.

Her muscles scream for her to sit down but Elsa knows that, if she does, she won’t be getting back up. Walking sluggishly to the front of the ship, she leans on the railing—surprisingly remaining mostly in tact—and looks to shore.

Soldiers, repair crews, medics and runners alike are scrambling through the streets. Elsa smiles.

Arendelle and its citizens have proven to be more resilient than she could have ever hoped for, and for that she will be forever grateful.

When Elsa presented the nation’s predicament all those weeks ago, the council and the people had chosen her over peace. It would have been a dictated peace from another nation, but peace nonetheless.

On one hand there was never a guarantee that the fight would have ended with her—the other nations would have searched to find the parents who sourced her power—but, on the other hand . . . look around.

Elsa frowns and does just that.

The castle lay in ruins, the city looks like it’s been under siege for years and the people . . . the people look as battered as the fleet.

Squeezing her eyes shut and pinching the bridge of her nose, her face twists in anguish. All of this is because of her, because she was born with powers and just happened to be adopted by the King and Queen. If royalty never took notice of her, if she never became queen, her problems never would have translated into the kingdom’s problems.

Groaning and rubbing her eyes, Elsa looks back to shore.

What she sees make her heart sink.

A soldier with ice blue armour, snowflakes adorning it, with a plumed helm by their side, sits limp on the dock with their chin to their chest. Only one person wears that armour.

Elsa’s heart plummets further when she notices the medic crouching beside the princess, examining a wound on her arm.

 _Breathe, Elsa – breathe._ Taking her own advice, Elsa forces breath into her lungs and releases it as slowly as she dares.

If the medic is attending to her arm and not any other part of her, obviously Anna has to be okay. Right?

The moment the ship starts rolling into port, Elsa launches herself off the side, aiming for the end of the pier. One of her feet breaks through the splintered wood. She rips it out with a growl and runs down the wharf, skidding to a stop and falling to her knees when she reaches her adopted sibling. She glances to the medic with wild, panicked eyes.

“What happened? Is she okay? Will she live?”

The medic raises her hands in a placid motion, trying to keep the queen calm. “She’s fine.” She soothes. “She took a small hit on the arm but is otherwise healthy.” Elsa releases the breath she wasn’t aware she was holding.

“So she’s . . .?” Elsa asks, eying the woman expectantly.

The medic smiles, sitting back on her heels. “Sleeping.” As if hearing her comment, Anna snores quietly. Elsa huffs a relieved laugh, reprieve gripping her faster than a bullet.

Gently cupping the back of Anna’s neck, Elsa kisses the younger girl’s forehead, tears welling in her eyes. Anna stirs, groaning softly. Elsa can practically feel the tendrils of sleep pulling at Anna’s conscious as the girl lifts her head, mouth open in a jaw splitting yawn. Elsa grins affectionately at the sight, stroking Anna’s hair tenderly.

“Hey, snowflake.” Elsa whispers, smiling kindly as Anna’s sleep blurred eyes focus on her hazily.

A light frown crosses Anna’s face, the darkness of her dreams refusing to let her go. She blinks once, twice – then her eyes widen. A half laugh half sob rips past her throat and she pulls Elsa into the tightest hug she can muster.

“Elsa!” She sobs, her face buried in the crook of the older girl’s neck. Anna pushes Elsa back, only to pull her into a fierce kiss. “I love you.” Anna murmurs, not even bothering to pull their lips completely apart, before kissing her again. “I love you so much.” Anna mumbles, this time not even bothering to break their lip-lock.

Elsa smiles into the kiss. “I love you too.” She mumbles, pulling back and nuzzling her cheek against Anna’s. Anna giggles and hums in approval, wriggling until her forehead and nose are flush with Elsa’s before, finally, letting out a long awaited sigh of relief.

“I missed you.” Anna whispers, a gauntleted hand gently cupping the back of Elsa’s neck.

“I’ve missed you, too.” Elsa murmurs, closing her eyes and relishing in the feel of having Anna in her arms again.

They stay like this for several seconds before the medic clears her throat. Elsa smiles despite herself and draws Anna under her chin before turning to the medic.

“I need to treat Anna’s wound.” The medic says, gently. “I’ve done what I could, but with her armour on I can’t treat it properly.”

“Mm.” Elsa hums, her eyes feeling leaden now that her adrenaline is finally fading from her veins. She nods to the medic, barely enough to notice, before leaning back and kissing Anna’s forehead. Too lazy to pull away, Elsa talks with her lips pressed to Anna’s hairline. “Time to go, Anna.” Anna groans in response.

“Elsaaa.” Anna whines, pulling Elsa closer. Despite Anna’s armour, Elsa finds the position incredibly comfortable. She feels her eyelids fluttering.

“Snowflake.” Elsa scolds, even as she finds her body sagging into the younger woman. “We’re going to our room, where a bed and meal wait for us.”

“Mm.” Anna mumbles, her eyes falling shut. “Sleep sounds nice.”

The distinct tired slur in Anna’s voice only brings Elsa more aware of her own exhaustion. With Anna safely in her arms, Elsa can’t find it within herself to fight the pull. Her eyes flicker shut and the world around her goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be a short one shot (my version of short is 15-20 pages), but after seeing it ended up totalling 47 pages, I decided it might be a better idea to split it into three different parts. The other two parts will be coming up in the next couple days after I edit them (I only edited the first 13 pages because that's what I decided as the first chapter and I wanted to get this thing posted). The next two chapters will be 16 pages and 18 pages, respectfully.


	2. And So You Wait

Elsa blinks her eyes open. She frowns when she is met with darkness. Where is she?

As her eyes adjust to the room, she sees that light is gently flittering in from underneath the door on the far wall, casting everything in outlines and shadows. Outlines and shadows that, to Elsa’s relief, she recognizes.

This is the only ‘proper’ bedroom in the entire underground system. Although it’s deemed ‘the royal suite’, the only thing different or special about it is the privacy. It has what every other cot in the barracks have, only doubled to house both Anna and Elsa. The room includes two armour racks, two plain flat-top wooden chests, a double cot, two oil lamps and a small weapons rack.

She feels something warm pressed to her front and feels her arm, draped over the object, gently raising and falling.

A smile instantly spreads over her face. Anna.

Without her armour.

Elsa raises an eyebrow and glances to the armour racks. Only Anna’s actually has armour on it, leaving Elsa’s stark in comparison.

 _Well, I wasn’t injured and I don’t wear heavy plate armour, so the medic probably figured I could keep it on._ Elsa thinks, shrugging – she doesn’t mind. After breaking in the leather for so many weeks—in almost constant combat—they’re more than comfortable to sleep in. It obviously isn’t her first preference, but a lot of things are happening that aren’t exactly her first preference. Hell, most of them aren’t even on her preference list at all. Elsa sighs.

There’s a soft knock on the door. Elsa groans, flopping her head unceremoniously back on the pillow. She’s not ready to deal with the outside world.

Her responsibilities get the best of her, however, and she turns her head to the ceiling—away from Anna in hopes the girl will remain sleeping—and calls softly: “Come in.”

The door opens with a click and, to Elsa’s surprise, Gerta enters bearing a tray.

“Gerta.” Elsa says, startled. She pushes up on an elbow, leaving her other arm draped protectively over the princess. Gerta sets a tray of food and water on the wooden chest closest to the head of the bed. Elsa smiles. “Room service? Wow, it’s been a while.” She locks eyes with the older woman. “Thank you.”

Gerta smiles kindly and lights the two oil lamps. “Oh, dear—you don’t have to thank me. It’s my job to take care of you two.”

“Gerta—” Elsa tries to protest, but Gerta stops her.

“No.” Gerta says, forceful yet tender at the same time. “It’s my job. It’s always been my job and it always will be my job.” Gerta gently cups Elsa’s cheek. “Who would take care of you if I don’t?”

Elsa’s eyes water and she leans into Gerta’s hand. “Thank you. You . . . you’ve done far more than was ever asked of you.”

A proud smile spreads over Gerta’s lips, a mischievous glint sparkling in her eyes. “Always.” She pulls back and reaches into her apron pocket. Elsa arches an eyebrow and glances to the pocket curiously.

Saliva instantly fills Elsa’s mouth as Gerta pulls out the object. “Is that—”

“Chocolate.” Gerta says with a nod, smiling as Elsa’s keen attention locks completely on the half bar of wrapped chocolate in her hand. “This is the last of Arendelle’s store. I know how hard you two work out there and, when I saw this . . . I knew it was you two who had to have it. So I saved it. I thought it would be a good moral boost.”

Anna, smelling a waft of the chocolate, groans and begins to stir gently. Elsa absently strokes Anna’s arm as her gaze shifts from the chocolate to Gerta’s eyes.

“You are so getting a promotion and a raise.”

Gerta laughs heartily. “First things first.” She says, setting the chocolate down on the tray and picking up one of the water skins, handing it over. “On top of the battle you’ve been out for half a day; you must be more parched then a dried up well.”

Noting how accurate the woman is, Elsa simply nods and takes the water skin. The moment the liquid hits her tongue, Elsa’s body surprises her by immediately tipping the thing back completely and practically inhaling in the entirety of its contents. She pulls the container away with a gasp, not even bothering to wipe the water dripping down her chin.

“Massive understatement.” Elsa muses airily. Anna stirs again. Elsa eyes the empty water skin, her eyebrows knotting in concern, and glances back to Gerta. Gerta smiles and points to the tray.

“I brought one for each of you.” She takes the empty container from her queen. “I’ll refill this and bring it back. I’ll also bring a basin so you can freshen up.” She eyes both girls and hums thoughtfully. “Better make that two.”

Elsa laughs. “Okay okay, we get the hint.” She glances at Anna, still in the process of waking up. “Well,” Elsa relents; “I do, at any rate.”

Gerta smiles, amusement twinkling in her eyes, and exits the room.

Anna whines, mumbling in her sleep. Elsa’s face twists in panic and looks down at the younger girl, then to the pout on her face. Elsa breathes a sigh of relief – the girl isn’t being plagued by nightmares, as they both often are when they dream. Leaning down and nuzzling into the side of Anna’s neck, Elsa hums gently.

“It’s time to wake up.” Elsa whispers. Anna just murmurs something incoherent in response. Elsa smiles. “If you don’t wake up,” Elsa says, playful coercion entering her tone; “I’m going to eat your chocolate.”

“Mm.” Anna mumbles, smiling in her sleep. “Chocolate.”

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

Anna wakes with a start. Her eyes fly open and she sits up abruptly, throwing Elsa off and making her land haphazardly where the cot meets the wall.

“Chocolate?” Anna demands, looking around the room with surprisingly sharp eyes. Her eyes finally land on Elsa, who stares up at the girl in complete shock. Anna narrows her eyes and scans Elsa’s person. Not finding what she’s looking for, she gives Elsa a firm, accusing gaze. “Is there chocolate?” Anna asks slowly, steadily. Elsa can tell the girl is far from pleased, obviously assuming Elsa is was lying in order to wake her up. Elsa smiles kindly.

“Yes, princess, there is.”

Anna’s eyes light up and she bounces up and down. “Really?” She squeals. Elsa laughs.

“Really really.” The queen replies, nodding to the tray beside the bed. Anna whips on it and, upon seeing the object of her desire, shrieks and leaps out of bed—quite literally lunging at the poor object—somehow succeeding in dragging all the blankets with her. “Gerta saved it for us.” Elsa explains as she watches Anna pay heed to nothing as she rips open the wrapper, breaks off a square and throws it in her mouth with a moan. Elsa smiles. “You are officially holding the last chocolate in all of Arendelle.”

Anna hesitates in sucking on the square and turns to Elsa. “Last as in . . . is this is the last chocolate I ever get to eat?”

The stricken look in Anna’s eyes and the way her face instantly falls breaks Elsa’s heart. She clears her throat awkwardly. “Well,” she amends; “not until this silly war is over, at least. Then I can start importing goods again and have chocolate delivered by the ton.”

Anna’s face brightens immediately and she happily continues consuming the chocolate melting on her tongue. She breaks off another piece and hands it to Elsa, puffing her chest in pride. Elsa smiles and takes it from the girl’s hand and pops it in her mouth. She moans and falls to the bed, closing her eyes and simply enjoying the flavour.

“I never thought it could taste even better than it already did.” Elsa mumbles, talking around the square on her tongue.

Anna giggles and, setting the chocolate back on the tray, sits on the edge of the cot. Elsa opens her eyes and looks up at the woman, arching an eyebrow in question. Anna, her face falling serious, inspects Elsa as if trying to memorize every detail about her. Elsa lays there, simply allowing the girl to do as she pleases.

Anna’s eyes, misting over, suddenly grow soft and lock with Elsa’s. “We’re going to make it, right?” Elsa’s heart clenches painfully.

“I hope so.” She strains, wincing as she hears the uncertainty in her voice. Anna’s face twists and her eyes fall to her lap, fingers twisting together uncomfortably. They stay like that for an impossibly long couple seconds before Anna awkwardly clears her throat and gives a forced smile and a short, broken laugh. She reaches for the remaining water skin.

“God, I’m parched!” She says, her forced cheer making Elsa wince. Anna opens the top and, much as Elsa did earlier, downs the entirety of its content. Ripping it from her lips with a gasp, Anna gulps for air and trains her eyes back on the tray. She frowns and holds up the water skin, displeasure filtering over her face. “That’s it?”

Elsa can’t help herself. She barks a laugh.

Anna gives her a look, but it only makes Elsa worse. Before she’s knows what’s happening, she is howling and slamming her hand against the wall in mercy, shouting incoherent sentences that even Anna—with her rambling skill galore—can’t decipher. However, Anna is quick to follow her adopted sibling’s example and finds herself doubled over and clutching at her ribs in a wasted attempt to keep them from screaming in protest.

There’s a knock on the door. Elsa and Anna, without even looking at each other, roar louder – as if, in some weird universe, it’s the funniest thing in the world. The door opens cautiously and Gerta, along with a man helping her carry the water basins, stare at the two royals in shock.

“Mercy!” Elsa screams, curling in on herself as laughter continues ripping past her lips. Anna howls in response, slapping her thigh repeatedly in place of words.

Gerta gives the man behind her a look and shrugs, nodding for him to follow her in. She sets her half-fill water basin on the chest beside the one holding the tray of food, and the man follows suit – putting his basin beside hers and placing two cloths between them. Gerta takes out the refilled water skin from her apron pocket and sets it on the tray of food. She turns to the two girls—now spending more time saying ‘ow’ than they are actually laughing—and raises an eyebrow. She glances to the man and motions for him to leave. He does and she follows, shutting the door behind them.

“Okay. Okay.” Anna gasps, finally getting a hold of herself. She turns to Elsa and grins proudly. Elsa snorts. Anna slaps her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing, again, and uses her free hand to smack Elsa’s chest. She yelps in surprise and shakes her stinging hand. She glances back to Elsa and, for the first time, notices she’s still wearing her armour. Anna frowns. “Why are you still wearing that?”

Elsa raises an eyebrow and glances down at herself. “Well,” she starts, locking eyes with the younger girl; “someone made me fall asleep with them on the docks and we had to be carried back here.”—Anna flushes—“They had to take your armour off in order to deal with your wound. Me? They probably just didn’t want to undress their queen.” Anna barks a laugh. Then she frowns.

“Don’t you wear clothes under your armour?”

Elsa gives Anna a look. “Of course I do. You know that.” Anna flushes.

“Well, the way you worded it . . .” She stutters. Her ears and neck begin burning as bright as her cheeks. Elsa smiles and lays a hand on Anna’s arm affectionately.

“It’s the concept. Without the necessity they had no reason, and no matter how messed up everything’s become I’m still their leader. If I wore heavy armour it might be a different story, but as it is . . .” Elsa shrugs, not bothering to finish her thought. Anna nods slowly, thoughtful.

“Makes sense.” She says. Elsa smiles, pats Anna’s shoulder, manoeuvres around the girl, stands and walks to her armour rack. Anna stares at her as she starts loosening the lacing. Elsa glances over her shoulder at the girl. She smirks.

“Stop ogling.” She teases. Anna ducts her head and tucks a strain of hair behind her ear. Elsa chuckles and pulls off her cuirass, putting it on the rack. “Come on.”—She says—“Strip and wash.” She nods to the water basin. Anna glances at the objects and grimaces. She complies nonetheless, but looks far from happy with the arrangement.

“If there’s one thing I miss,”—Anna grumbles—“it’s taking a bath.” She pulls off her shirt, revealing her bound chest and a white cloth with crimson spatters wrapping her wound. “Or swimming.” She says, continuing to complain. “We’re surrounded by enough water, I don’t see why we can’t bathe there.” Elsa, pulling off her brassards and gloves, winces.

“You don’t want to bathe in that water. Even if you were okay with all the stuff floating in it, I’ve tumbled into it enough to know that it’s freezing.” Anna gives the woman a skeptical look. Elsa shrugs. “I’m assuming. I wasn’t affected by heat and I felt more than at home in the temperature, so I’m guessing the water’s quite cold. With all the ice I’ve been pumping into it I really shouldn’t be surprised.” She frowns, undoing her tuilles, greaves and sollerets and hooking them on their respective places on the armour rack. Her thoughts are interrupted by a muffled moan. Blinking, she turns to Anna. She barely keeps her mouth from hitting the floor.

Anna, clad in only undergarments, is absolutely devouring her portion of the delivered food.

The primitive eating style—along with food and crumbs getting literally everywhere—honestly shouldn’t of surprised Elsa as much as it did, but, considering the last trail of conversation, was completely unprepared for the sight when confronted with it. She whips back to her rack and tries not gape in astonishment by distracting herself with pulling off her double enforced tunic—which, along with the double enforced breeches, have to be worn with the leather—leaving her top half clad in only the binding of her bound chest.

Then her stomach growls.

The smell of food wafts into her nostrils and, before she can quite process what’s happening, she’s beside Anna stuffing food in her face as fast as she can manage. She can barely chew with the amount of food between her molars, but she could care less.

Eventually she swallows the last of the food and slumps against the wooden chest, her stomach overjoyed to finally get a proper meal. She hears giggling. She glances up. Anna smiles at her, already finished her food, and hands over a half empty water skin. Elsa nods thankfully and takes it.

“And I thought I was bad.” Anna quips. Elsa glares playfully but doesn’t respond, favouring drinking the water instead. Anna grins and, taking off her undergarments, moves to the water basin on the right. “Do you think we have any clean clothes to change into?” She asks, picking up one of the cloths and soaking it in the water. Elsa shrugs, pulling the empty water skin from her lips and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

“If Gerta had any say in it we do. I guess we’ll find out when we open these puppies up.” Elsa says, patting the chest under the food try. She stands and proceeds to remove her leather boots, double enforced breeches and undergarments. She kneels beside Anna and takes the remaining cloth and soaks it in her own basin. They clean themselves in silence for a long while before Anna sighs, resting her elbows on the chest and dropping her head into her hands.

“This sucks.” She says, the words muffled by her hands. Elsa sits back on her heels and rubs her eyes, their situation really donning on her for the first time since she woke up.

“I know.” Elsa whispers, gritting her teeth. “I know.”

Anna glances at the older girl and simply stares at her, thinking. She picks up Elsa’s cloth and chucks it into the girl’s face. Elsa looks up, startled. Anna smiles faintly.

“Let’s just get cleaned up, okay?” Anna asks – a silent plea. Elsa stares at her for a moment before her eyes soften and she nods.

“Okay.” Elsa allows, smiling weakly and picking up her cloth. She dips it back into the water and focuses on the texture as it moves between her fingers.

One thing at a time, the feeling reminds her. Just take it one thing at a time.

 

*

Two hours later.

Elsa and Anna, clad in their armour, are in a make-shift meeting room talking to the officers of the war council and pointing to the map on the table between them.

After the royals finished morning preparations in their room, they suited up again and went to the surface. Elsa went around repairing and fortifying everything that needed her attention. Anna went to every officer and squad and updated herself on the city’s situation before regrouping and ordering around the soldiers to where they were most needed. Elsa, her tasks taking a shorter time than Anna’s, went underground first and started replenishing stock. Not surprisingly, arrows were at the top of the to do list; what did surprise her was that there were actually a couple left.

Anna came strolling down, already exhausted, a half an hour later. She didn’t bother looking for Elsa and went straight to the make-shift kitchen. She had just finished stuffing her face when Elsa found her. Anna could only give the older girl a weak smile before the two went off to the war council meeting, where they find themselves now.

Anna, her helm on the table in front of her, plays absently with the plume as she watches Elsa’s gloved hands sweep and point to different places on the map. How can those slender, caring hands be capable of inflicting so much damage? She glances to her gauntleted hand playing with her plume, and frowns. She flips the hand and stares at her armoured palm. How can she be capable of the same thing?

Balling her hand into a fist and carefully pushing it into the table, she looks back to the map, too lost in her thoughts to register the concerned look Elsa gives her.

Anna sees that one of the officers are pointing to the map now, to the open sea outside the fjord. Huh. Guess Elsa’s report is over. The officer continues on to point the land around Arendelle. Ooh, she’s reporting enemy troop movements. Anna nods absently, staring at the map and not raising her head; if she raises her head they’ll know she’s not listening, or so she tells herself.

Elsa nudges Anna’s foot. Anna looks up at her. Elsa nods her head to the side just enough for Anna to catch the movement, and she glances in that direction. She jumps when she realizes that everyone is looking at her. She clears her throat awkwardly.

“My turn to report?” She asks rather than saying ‘what?’. At least this way, if she’s right, it only looks like she zoned out for the last couple seconds instead of the whole meeting.

The woman nods. “Yes.”

Anna nods and leans forward, pointing to different places in the city.

“I moved twenty from this squad over to here and the lieutenant from this squad over to this one—the captain died—the troops right here are running low, but there wasn’t much I could do about it after rerouting a couple of handfuls of troops to the western wall. To be fair that section only handles catapults, but with any assault lasting longer than eight hours they need to have a replacement squad on standby to rotate out with, which I’ve set up with this group here. I’ve instructed runners to not resupply arrows as frequently here, here and here in favour of regular check-ins with the western wall, considering they’re the only ones who actually use them. Well, the only ones that power through them, at any rate.

“I’ve given permission to all four sections of catapults to always have a runner nearby so they can go report supply requirements when they start running low. Apparently all of them completely ran out of shells at least three times during the latest assault. However, no matter how much I’ve arranged and rearranged, these soldiers need a break. I don’t know how long they’ll be hold up, otherwise.” Anna finishes, pulling back and meeting the eyes of the officers. Who, to Anna’s wonder, are shifting uncomfortably. She frowns.

Elsa gently clears her throat and leans over to Anna’s ear. She speaks softly, but Anna knows it’s loud enough that the other officers can overhear.

“Snow creatures are being posted at every station. We’re narrowing the human crew manning each station to the bare minimum and they’re rotating every half an hour, so each soldier can have at least two hours to rest in between shifts.” She whispers. She shifts and speaks again, awkwardly. “We arranged that during the other reports. You agreed to it.” Anna stands there for a second, processing the information. She nods slowly.

“Oh.” She says, straightening her helm on the table to fit perfectly at the edge. “Oh.” She repeats. The attention in her eyes fading as she loses herself to her mind once again.

Elsa frowns and glances to the officers. Most either shrug or stare at her looking helpless. Sighing gently through her nose, Elsa places her hand on Anna’s shoulder, breaking her from her reverie. Anna glances up at her, once again ready to receive information. Elsa’s frown deepens.

“Are you okay?” Elsa asks, as if dealing with a skittish animal. Anna forces a smile.

“Not particularly.” She admits. “Why, do I look like crap?”

Elsa smiles weakly. “Will I get slapped if I agree?”

Anna laughs airily. “Will I if I say you look worse than me?”

This time Elsa barks a weak, but sincere, laugh. “No, but I’ll give you a stern queenly glower.”

Anna grins. “I better not admit it, then.”

The two fall into a restless but comfortable silence. Elsa cups the back of Anna’s neck and gently pulls the girl under her chin, holding her in a loose embrace. “Why don’t you go lie down?” Elsa murmurs, gently stroking the back of Anna’s hair. Anna shakes her head.

“We still have stuff to do.”

“Actually,” says the lieutenant Elsa gave the stolen ship over to after the last assault; “there’s not much more you _can_ do. You’ve already done everything that needed to be addressed and all that’s required now is making sure everything continues running properly. The skills you two have make you far more useful in battle than monitoring, so I say you should rest up while you can.”

“I agree.” Says one of the other officers. “Having you two in battle is a huge moral boost and it wouldn’t do for either of you to collapse from exhaustion or get killed from not taking care of yourselves. So it’s not that you two can’t do what needs to be done in between assaults, because it’s quite the opposite, but with the situation we’re in you can only choose one or the other and we need you in battle more.”

Elsa hesitates, then nods slowly. “Okay.” She says softly, turning her attention to Anna. “Is that okay with you?” Anna, taking a moment to wage a conflicted internal battle, sighs and nods. Elsa turns back to the officers. “If anything happens inform us immediately.”

The last officer to speak nods. “Of course.”

Anna quickly grabs her helm before following the queen out of the room. Elsa wraps her arm around Anna’s shoulders and kisses her hair gently as they make their way back to their room.

Anna’s chest clenches as they walk through the barracks, seeing row after row after row of cots full with sleeping soldiers so tired they didn’t even bother taking off their armour. It’s another stark reminder of how bad everything really is. She clenches her teeth and wraps an arm around Elsa’s waist and squeezes, doing her best to keep her composure. Elsa—never taking her eyes from where she’s walking—pulls Anna closer to her side, silently saying she’s there for her.

That’s all Anna ever asked for.

 

*

Fear. Dread. Horror. Despair. Blackness.

Death.

Anna jolts awake with a start, her stomach reeling and her body shaking and covered in a film of cold sweat. Her cheeks are wet with tears and her throat hoarse from screaming. Her eyes are wide with fear and her vision becomes skewed by blind panic. She’s being held down.

“No!” Anna screams, ripping and pulling at her restrains. “ _No!_ ” She wails, beginning to weep anew. She hears voices—panicked voices—shouting at each other, but Anna can’t distinguish what they’re saying. She feels more hands holding her down and, terror and dread gripping at her heart, she screams and wraths as hard as she can.

“Make it stop!” Anna screams, her struggling starting to die down in favour of sobbing as she starts to comprehend the horrors were in her dreams. “God, please, make it stop.” Her body shakes uncontrollably and she cries as if the world has fallen down around her. She feels the hands on her limbs loosing until they retreat completely. Anna rolls to her side and curls into a ball, quivering uncontrollably as the shadows from her dreams whisper in the back of her mind.

 

*

Elsa had woken up in a clammy sweat; the faces of the dead and twisted events haunting her dreams. It surprised her. Normally she’s so beat she fades into blackness – a blissful nothing, but by sleeping without being completely worn had left room for her mind to roam.

After she had calmed down, she decided to drift but remain awake, knowing her PTSD would kick back up if she fell back to sleep.

Apparently Anna was in the same boat.

It had started with soft uncomfortable moans, then escalated into indecipherable words, then she started writhing and crying . . . and then she started clawing at her head, screaming.

Elsa had to hold the girl down and tried to calm her with words. Anna had bolted awake but didn’t understand anything Elsa tried to say, and even tried to punch Elsa in the face. Panicked soldiers had burst through the door, asking the queen what was wrong. Upon seeing Anna, they ran into the room asking if there was anything they could do. Elsa told them to help her hold down the girl, but it only made the princess struggle harder.

After a while Anna had calmed down enough for Elsa to thank the soldiers and ask them to leave, giving them assurances that she would take care of the princess. The soldiers had obeyed, but their concern was as clear as day in their eyes.

Now Elsa is curled against Anna’s back, arms wrapped around her and whispering sweet nothings in her ear. The girl has calm down significantly, much to Elsa’s relief, but by the girl’s rigid shoulders, Elsa knows that Anna is far from okay.

Elsa kisses the back of Anna’s neck. “How are you feeling?” She asks, barely loud enough for Anna to hear. Anna shrugs. Beat. Elsa sighs softly. “I have dreams too, Anna.” Anna shifts uncomfortably, but Elsa continues. “In fact I had one before you got up. I’m lucky it wasn’t a violent dream or I could have frozen over Arendelle. That wouldn’t bode well for anyone, would it?” Elsa kisses the back of Anna’s head. “Post traumatic stress is normal, considering our situation. It’s unwelcome, but it’s reality.” Anna is quiet, to the point that Elsa doesn’t think she’s going to get a response when:

“Would you of?” Anna asks.

“Would I of what?” Elsa questions.

“Frozen Arendelle.” Anna says, timidly.

“Oh, snowflake.” Elsa breathes. “The worst I’ve done is frozen this room solid, and that was only because you weren’t here with me. Even subconsciously I can’t threaten the lives of the people I care about. If Arendelle was a ghost kingdom than yes, I would have – but it’s not, and when you’re with me . . . well, everything becomes a little easier to bear.” Anna takes a moment before responding.

“Without you I don’t think I would have had the will to continue.” Anna admits, weakly. “Does that make me frail?”

“No.” Elsa soothes. “It makes you human. And, if it’s any consolation, I would have bottomed out weeks ago if I didn’t have you to come back to.”

The two drift into silence. It’s not a cosy silence, but it’s secure; and, at least for now, it’s all Elsa needs. If Anna doesn’t want to talk about it, fine – Elsa doesn’t really want to talk about it either. After all this is over Elsa knows they have plenty they have to work out and plenty of haunted memories to forgive but, until then, Elsa doubts either of them would be able to handle it. However . . .

Elsa stares at the back of Anna’s head. If something was bothering the girl, really bothering her and she’s just bottling it all in, it would distract her and end up getting herself killed. She’s been fine so far, but . . . Elsa frowns. What if it wasn’t actual events that were bothering Anna, but the twisted versions in her dreams showing her what could have happened? Or maybe it’s the opposite, maybe the dreams are showing her what might happen, what might go wrong – who might get killed.

The girl has a low tolerance level for keeping things to herself if they bother her, so Anna would tell her, right?

Then again, since all this started, how much has Anna changed?

Elsa squeezes her eyes shut. How much has _she_ changed?

Forcing herself to breathe slow and even, Elsa buries her face into Anna’s hair. Everything has been happening so fast since war was declared that Elsa hasn’t had the time to truly process anything that’s been happening. It hasn’t registered that she’s murdered countless people and destroyed countless resultant lives, or that everyone who died on her side and the enemy’s is because of her – because she was queen, and it hasn’t clicked that nothing can ever salve the damage that has been caused. This city will never heal – it may recover, but never heal; just like the people who live in it.

All of these things she knows, she’s aware of them, but they haven’t sunk in yet. They haven’t become real. But with every moment of spare time they sink in a little deeper and Elsa knows she will crack and Arendelle would lose if Jasper was any the wiser.

Elsa can drown out the world during assaults. She can suppress everything and, until she’s rested, they stay in hibernation. If Jasper keeps throwing attack after attack Elsa knows that Arendelle will come out on top, but if he doesn’t . . . Elsa can only hope she’s not sane enough to see the consequences.

Elsa isn’t aware that she’s crying until she feels a thumb softly wiping them away. She looks up.

Anna has turned to face her, but no matter how concerned she looks, her eyes are laced with an ache Elsa knows nothing in the world can ever cure.

“Why are you crying?” Anna asks, her voice barely above a whisper. Elsa sniffs and wipes at her face, trying to rid the blasted evidence from her cheeks that, in the end, just keeps flowing.

“I don’t know.” Elsa sobs, finally just opting to hold her hand over her eyes. “I know so many things are wrong, and I know I know what they are, but I can’t look at them because I know that, if I do, I’ll shatter into a million pieces and I won’t be able to put them back together.” She breaks. She starts weeping and whimpering and she knows that she couldn’t stop it if she tried.

Anna pulls the older girl into a tight embrace, gently putting Elsa’s head under her chin. She strokes small circles on Elsa’s back and, in that moment, Elsa let’s out everything into the crook of Anna’s neck. She holds the girl so tight her muscles start going numb, but Anna doesn’t complain.

It takes at least twenty minutes for Elsa to calm back down, but neither of the women move. The world is fragile, and Elsa’s afraid the tentative peace-of-mind she’s created will break if she so much as moves.

Anna, however, had a different idea.

“I was being held by two men.” Anna murmurs quietly. Elsa frowns.

“What?” She asks, confused.

“In my dream.” Anna says, shifting uncomfortably. She takes a moment to collect herself, breathing in and letting it out in a slow, steady stream. “I was injured and tired, and I had been apprehended. I was on the streets of Arendelle—blood, smoke and bodies’ everywhere—with two enemy soldiers holding my arms, forcing me to be still as I was held on my knees. Not three meters in front of me there are six people on their knees with bags over their heads, so I couldn’t tell who they were.

“Behind them is Jasper, along with so many soldiers I couldn’t have hoped to count them all. Jasper turned to me, his stare boring into my eyes, and said—” Anna’s throat catches and she clenches the fabric of Elsa’s tunic roughly. Elsa opens her mouth to say Anna doesn’t have to continue if she didn’t want to, but thought better of it. If Anna didn’t want to tell her she never would have brought it up.

Anna clears her throat uneasily. “He said; ‘surrender or—’ I cut him off with a ‘fuck you.’ Jasper just smiled, a greasy, nerve-wracking smile and said; ‘now now, dear thing, don’t seal a deal before you’ve heard it.’ I grit my teeth and waited, knowing I didn’t really have a choice. His smile widened and he pointed to the people in front of him, saying; ‘I’m going to ask you to surrender, and every time you refuse I’m going to kill one of these people. So, here’s the first – do you surrender?’

“Well I didn’t know who was underneath the hoods, so I just scowled at him and said, ‘never.’ He just shrugged and waved to someone. A soldier ripped off the first hood, and it was Kristoff.” Anna chokes on a sob, but bites it back – forcing herself to finish. “I knew he would understand, no matter how much it pained me, so I didn’t take my words back. But then a couple soldiers brought out Sven.” Anna hisses and buries her face in Elsa’s hair. Elsa can hear the girl struggling to straighten her breathing, and Elsa’s heart breaks. When Anna starts up again, she talks to Elsa’s hairline.

“Poor Sven was struggling, wild panic in his eyes as if he knew what was coming. Kristoff went hysterical. He started screaming and begging and crying – saying he would do anything if they just let Sven go. Sven looked at me, his wide, innocent eyes pleading me to help him. The next thing I knew the life in his eyes were gone and he crimpled to the ground. I pull against my captors, almost as hysterical as Kristoff. Then I heard the next bang, and I realized I was the only one left screaming. I looked up and Kristoff was face down on the cobblestone, a puddle of blood growing under his head. I tear my eyes away, ready to shout profanities at Jasper, but the smoking flintlock in his hand stops me cold.

“He had done it himself, I realized, and I suddenly wondered if surrendering would do anyone any good. So I kept saying ‘no’ every time he asked me to surrender. I watched as Gerta went down, and Kai, and Oaken—even mom, for fuck sake—but when he got to the last one . . .” Anna’s breath hitches. She clears her throat three times before it allows her to speak again. “I refused, again, but when they ripped off the bag I saw it was you.” Anna’s grip on Elsa goes impossibly tighter. “I immediately relented. I took it all back and surrendered over and over and over again. You had tears streaming down your face but, when we locked eyes, you smiled weakly and mouthed, ‘it’s okay.’

“I was in such shock that it took my brain a full two seconds to register that the gun had fired. It took me even longer to realize that the crimson stained, platinum haired lump on the ground was you. I went berserk. I escaped from my two captors and took their swords. I started fighting like mad, but every time I started engaging one of the soldiers, they weren’t the enemy anymore – they were Arendelle citizens. Every time I stopped fighting they would become the enemy force again, so I powered through and fought with my eyes half closed.

“When I got to Jasper he turned into dad. I froze, and he ran his sword through my chest. Jasper’s oily smile spread over dad’s face, and that was the last thing I saw before I crippled and woke up.”

Silence.

Elsa lay there, her brain shut down and mush as she tries to wrap her head around her disbelief. The queen has had more than her far share of physiologically damaging dreams, but hearing someone else’s—especially Anna’s—was somehow five times worse.

“Shit.” Elsa finally chokes, her arms tightening around Anna protectively.

No words could make this better. All Elsa can possibly give is to show Anna that she’s there and always looking out for her. In this case, that best translates into getting Anna thinking about something else.

“You know,” Elsa murmurs, “I really don’t think we’re going to be getting any more sleep.” Anna, though her voice still sounds broken, laughs.

“That’s probably the worst understatement of the year.”

Elsa chuckles and softly rubs Anna’s back. “What should we do then? Oh, we still have some of that chocolate locked up in your chest.”

Anna hums. Elsa can practically feel the scheming nature pulsating from the vibrations and, from Anna’s lack of enthusiasm, Elsa can tell it has absolutely nothing to do with what she just said. Frowning, Elsa pushes back and looks Anna in the eye. What she sees makes her mouth go dry.

“I think,” Anna says, pushing Elsa to her back; “that you should spread your legs and stop talking so much.” Anna’s hand roams to the inside of Elsa’s thigh and the queen’s breath hitches. Anna smirks. “Sound good?” Elsa nods dumbly. Anna’s smirk widens. “Good.”

 

*

“So I hear you two had something of a rough night.” Gerta says as she comes to collect the leftover dishes from morning’s breakfast. “Heard some boys rushed in upon hearing screaming and had to help . . . subdue Anna.” Elsa and Anna tense.

“Yeah.” Elsa says, uneasily. “It wasn’t the most pleasant thing to wake up to.” She points to the new and recently used water basins, changing the topic. “We don’t need those anymore.”

Gerta frowns. The girl knows that Gerta would have dealt with it without her mentioning it.

Guess ‘touchy subject’ is putting the event lightly.

The old housekeeper watches the two girls backs—facing their armour racks and suiting up as they are—and notes the tendrils of stress etched into their posture. Tendrils of stress that, to Gerta’s surprise, are only more noticeable by the relaxed way the two hold themselves. Gerta smiles. So the rumors were true.

“Do you also want me to fetch some fresh blankets for the bed?”

Gerta is pleased when Elsa sputters and mutters an affirmative response. Anna giggles and murmurs something along the lines of, ‘so cute’, to which Elsa clears her throat.

Everyone knows the adopted siblings are together. They have been since the Great Freeze. It didn’t become common knowledge until the threats from other nations started pouring in and the two royals had more to deal with then hiding their relationship. If times hadn’t of been so dire the whole deal might have made a quite a fuss but, as it was, it was barely glanced at twice. It’s not as if the two are related.

Gerta collects what she came for and leaves the two to continue putting on their armour, because who knows when they’ll be able to be alone again.

The housekeeper doesn’t think about the possibility that the answer could be never.

 

*

“Really?” Elsa mutters, rereading the parchment in her hand.

“So it’s true?” Anna asks, worrying with her helm on the table in front of her. Elsa lowers the parchment and tosses it on the table.

“Apparently.” Elsa says, rubbing the back of her neck and staring in fascination at piece of paper. “If we accept the talks we’re to meet one of Jasper’s officers on the frozen water at the entry of the fjord in two hours.”

“What are you going to do?” One of the officers of the war council asks.

“Accept, obviously.” Anna interjects. She glances unsurely to Elsa. “Right?” Elsa nods.

“Talking is better than what we’ve been doing so far.” The queen says.

“But he’s requesting you and your next in command, A.K.A. Anna, to have the talks within his fleet _outside_ the fjord.” The same officer presses. “There has to be another, more neutral ground that you can persuade him to.”

“I doubt it.” Elsa murmurs. “My powers frighten him and his council. They would never agree for talks anywhere they deem as my natural element.” Anna frowns.

“But he wants the talks on an ocean.” She says, confused. Elsa shrugs.

“He’s surrounded by backup. It doesn’t matter that I can lock their ships in place or sink them or freeze them over because he’s thinking in numbers. So if I suggest anywhere else he might feel like I’m leading him and his high officers away from the mass to kill them. So if I ask for another location I risk ending all possible peace talks.” Elsa says, rubbing her eyes as if fighting a headache. “Good thing I’m rested.” She mutters.

Anna taps her fingers on the table absently. Elsa will try to convince her to stay, but she knows it’s more for appearance to the other officers than actually hoping Anna will listen to her. Elsa knows better than to try to talk Anna out of something she wants to do. The only question is if Anna actually wants to do it. She’s never been that good at negotiations, but she might be able to use some of her natural clumsy charm to make the enemy officers less scared of Elsa, therefore less trigger happy.

On the other hand, Anna frowns, it might backfire and make them think Arendelle is severely weakened if the second in command is a total klutz.

All in all, not a kingdom of logic would let Anna willingly allow Elsa go without her.

“Okay.” Anna says slowly, stopping the conversation and turning the focus to her. “So we assign a temporary commander and second in our stead and pray we come back to refill the positions.” She raises her eyes to look around the room. “Cool?”

“Anna—” Elsa starts. Anna cuts her off.

“You can try to convince me to stay, but it won’t work. If it makes the officers feel better you can certainly try, but you know better than to hope it’ll actually succeed.” She says, shrugging. Elsa frowns. Anna raises an eyebrow, daring Elsa to try.

“Uh huh.” Elsa mutters, massaging above her eyebrows to dull what Anna can only assume really is an oncoming headache. She drops her arm and, to Anna’s surprise, turns to the officers. “Elaina, you’re in command. Luke, you’re second in command.” The two officers, both captains, straighten and nod respectfully.

“It’s an honour.” Elaina says.

“Thank you, your grace.” Luke says.

Elsa waves her hand dismissively and continues. “Okay, I want to know what terms everyone is willing and unwilling to accept. Make sure you tell me everything, because this might be the kind of deal that has to be made up and accepted on the spot, and I don’t want to make a decision without knowing where everyone’s standing.”


	3. The End is Near

All and all, Anna surmises as her and Elsa walk across the harbour on Elsa’s form-as-you-go walk-way, this wasn’t the worst thing she’s ever strolled into. Admittedly the list that surpassed it is amazingly short and this is still a contender for the ‘worst ever’ place, but so far it hasn’t taken it, which is always a good sign.

Then again, her and Elsa haven’t even reached the rendezvous point.

As they get closer to the frozen off entry to the fjord, Anna can see the figure who waits there pacing, only stopping when the two women arrive. The man nods his head respectfully, though with a tinge of fear as Elsa waves her hand and dissipates the walk-way behind her. The man clears his throat uneasily and gestures to a rowboat some ways on the ice behind him.

“If you would.” He says. Elsa raises an eyebrow.

“Why would we take a rowboat when we could just as easily walk?” She asks. The officer’s eyes widen almost comically. He clears his throat again, his mask slipping mostly back into place as he collects himself.

“With all due respect, our commanders would appreciate if you took the boa—”

“Really? Well, I personally don’t want to spend double the time rowing to get to a destination that could be reached doubly as fast by simply walking there.” Elsa says, her eyebrows set in an irritated line. Anna bites her cheek to keep from laughing. The man shifts uncomfortably.

“I am complying to every one of your prerequisites.” Elsa continues, far from pleased. “You will have the two highest authorities in Arendelle _within_ your fleet, _away_ from backup and _surrounded_ by enemy soldiers for peace talks I can only pray stay that way, yet you refuse me this?” Elsa growls, her eyes narrowing as she takes a threatening step forward. “If you think I will submit to any more of your absurdly dominate meeting conditions, you’re wrong. If you persist in trying I will skewer you where you stand and call all of this off.” Elsa’s eyes rove over the man, looking for any hint of rebuttal. When she finds none, she nods approvingly. “Good. Lead me to your ship.”

Anna frowns. Why didn’t she just ask him to point ou—

Anna finally looks behind the man to take in the ships. Her mouth drops.

How, exactly, has Arendelle lasted so long?

Fleet doesn’t begin to describe the daunting number of battle ships blotting out the sea. She notes that a fair number are damaged—no doubt from the numerous snow monster attacks—but there are just _so many_.

Anna is suddenly glad she fights on land. If she had to see this every battle, she’d probably shit her pants.

Anna walks silently beside Elsa, following the enemy officer.

The riveted ice-way under their feet only stretches a meter in front of the officer—keeping that distance as he walks—and disappears a meter behind the adopted siblings. By the rigid hold of the officer’s shoulders, Anna can tell he is completely unnerved by the situation. Whether it’s because the royals are behind him or that he’s walking on magical ice that creates itself as he walks, Anna can’t tell. If she were to wager a guess, though, she would assume both.

Anna glances up as they approach—on a course to pass—the first ship. It’s a huge, heavy-weight warship that practically demands fealty; it’s painted red and gray—no surprise there—and the crew crowd the railing to catch a glimpse at the Ice Queen they’ve been slaving to defeat. Anna frowns as the murmur among themselves and shift her focus uneasily to Elsa.

For her part, Elsa’s composer practically screams royalty and power. On top of that, her gaze is locked firmly onto the officer they follow, never once wavering – as if nothing around her is worth seeing.

Anna’s frown deepens and shifts her focus to the man they follow as well. What must she look like, standing beside such grace and poise? Her presence doesn’t demand attention like Elsa’s does and, donning full armour, most of these soldiers must think she’s just another officer, and probably a guy. It’s not like her haphazard, clumsy, overly-protective aura tells them otherwise.

Her hands tighten on the hilts of her swords—her regular steel sword and an ice sword—the further she walks into the armada. She can practically feel the stress knots forming and tightening in her shoulders, and her armour suddenly seems too heavy and overbearing. She feels like she’s suffocating, and she knows all she has to do is turn around and leave in order to breathe again, but her body is moving of its own accord, and her body is keeping her firmly attached to Elsa’s side.

The more ships they pass—green with blue, white with orange, brown with black, blue with black and white, but primarily red with gray—the more her lungs feel like they’re going to give out. The more eyes she see boring down at them, the more she wishes she never came.

“Fuck, stop staring.” Anna growls quietly to herself, eyes flickering between the different ships and all the different faces peering back. Anna’s glad her helm masks the scared and uncertain look on her face. If they were on her level they would be able to tell, but not with them above her.

“Calm down.” Elsa whispers, her lips barely moving. Anna’s muscles jump, but she thankfully not enough to show through her armour. She glances to the taller girl, still remaining as stoic as ever.

“Right.” Anna murmurs bitterly, looking forward again. “Because it’s that easy.”

“You just have to look undaunted and you’ll derail Jasper’s officers. You can be as shit scared as you like on the inside.” Elsa says, a charming shrug in her voice. It’s enough to warm Anna’s scared, pounding heart. She twitches a smile.

“Your motivational speeches need some work.” Anna jokes. Elsa raises an eyebrow and glances over to the princess.

“Really? I don’t recall giving one.”

Anna rolls her eyes. “Good grief. Please remind me why I decided to endure this painful endeavor with you, again?”

“Because you’re as stubbornly persistent as a sex-craved bull pursuing your prey.”

It takes a moment for that one to sink in. When it does, Anna’s face falls unamused and she stares pointedly at the queen. “Seriously? _Seriously?_ ”

Elsa has to bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing. She glances to Anna, a playful sparkle twinkling in her eye. “You’re more relaxed, aren’t you?” Anna opens her mouth to retort, but finds none. She grumbles and looks front. Elsa smirks and does the same.

“Better than a motivational speech any day.” Elsa murmurs proudly to herself. Anna can’t help but smile affectionately.

“That one.” The officer says, pointing to a ship off to their right. Elsa nods, adjusting the ice-path accordingly. Anna glances at the mentioned ship and pales. It’s almost two times larger than the other ships; it’s red and gray—the dominate military player, it seems—with golden designs swirled everywhere from the hull to the sails. Merely looking at it and it gracefully sharp angles would be enough to demoralize the unprepared.

Unfortunately, Anna was unprepared.

Anna forces deep breaths, wracking her brain for something that can keep her calm. Something that can take her mind off that damnable ship and—Anna pauses. Beat. Her lips spread into an annoyed scowl.

“A sex-craved bull.” She snarls, vaguely registering Elsa choke on her spit. “Comparing me to a ignorant male animal who doesn’t use the right brain.” Anna growls, continuing to bicker about it under her breath. Elsa has to swallow hard to stop herself from laughing.

Several moments pass.

“There’s no need.”

Anna frowns and glances up, shocked out of her reverie by Elsa’s voice, but she’s not addressing her. Anna looks up and takes in the situation.

Anna sees the crew of the red, gray and gold ship throw a rope latter thrown over the side which, by the officer’s hand position in front of them, had called for. Elsa waves her hand and, along with lengthening the ice-way, creates an ice-bridge that connects to the ship. The officer, caught between scolding her and cowering, swallows audibly and continues walking. Anna snickers quietly.

The moment the two royals step into the deck of the ship, the ice behind them dissipates into thin air.

A stocky man with graying hair, a clean-shaven but scarred face, evergreen eyes and red and gray royal military apparel, stands in front of a group of four officers – all adorning the colours of the different ships. The man’s lips set into a tense line. Anna frowns as her and Elsa approach him. The man nods.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Queen Elsa. I’m General Jasper, commander of the Red fleet and the armada as a whole, and these are the commanders of the other four nations.” Jasper says, his eyes searching the ruling royal for who knows what. When he finishes, deeming what he sees acceptable, he turns to Anna. His eyes fall to her weapons. “No weapons will be allowed inside the captain’s cabin.” Anna’s eyes bulges.

“What?” She blurts, before she can stop herself. “No goddamn way!” She exclaims. “We’re in the middle of your fleet, just the two of us, and you expect me to just _hand over_ my weapons? Have you lost your fucking mind?”

“Anna.” Elsa scolds, sending the shorter girl a sharp look. Anna glares back with scowls. Jasper’s eyebrows shoot to his hairline.

“Anna? As in Princess Anna?” He asks. Anna snaps her eyes to him with a look far darker than he could have imagined from the stories he’s heard of the girl. He gestures cautiously to himself and the officers. “As you can see, neither me nor these officers are baring any weapons. I just ask you to respect that and do the same.”

To both Elsa and Jasper’s surprise, Anna actually _growls_ at him.

“Just do it, Anna.” Elsa snaps, not wanting the peace talks to fall through so quickly. Anna snaps her a heated glare. Elsa lowers her voice. “If you need weapons I can always summon you some. For now, please just play along.”

Anna stares at the queen for a long moment before, without taking her eyes away, undoes her steel-sword sword-belt and throws it carelessly towards the commanding officers. Keeping her gaze firm, she points crossly to her ice sword belt and sword. Elsa, troubled by Anna’s forceful intensity in front of the enemy audience, cautiously waves her hand and banishes the items.

Anna knows she shouldn’t be taking out her frustration on her lover, but this whole situation just keeps getting worse and worse and some unreasonable part of Anna blames it all on Elsa.

The woman couldn’t of at least _suggested_ another location? Nooo, of course not. Because why would she address the only issue that Anna really cared about – _being completely fucking surrounded._

Seriously, how is she the only one troubled by this?

She hears a sound, like a rusty nail scrapped against metal, and frowns. She turns to the officers. Her immediate reaction is to attack. Her secondary reaction, which she thankfully sticks to, is to stare at the men in complete and utter confusion.

One of the officers is struggling to pull her sword out of her sheath.

While Anna can rationalize that they would want to check out her blade, she can’t seem to rationalize why they can’t. It’s hardly dented to the point where it could be stuck. Granted, she did forget to bring it to the blacksmith—her fault—but it went in just fine last time she sheathed it.

“Is it suppose to be that hard to pull out?” Elsa asks, frowning. Jasper glances from the officer to the royals upon hearing Elsa’s voice. Both women ignore him.

“No. It’s quite a fine blade, actually. Had to have it repaired a lot, but it’s served me well. So well, in fact, that I’m not quite sure what would make it so difficult to draw.” Anna replies, tilting her head curiously as the White officer, red-faced from effort, passes the sword for the next officer to try.

“When’s the last time you—”

Elsa is cut off by an awful screech as the Green officer pulls the sword loose.

Anna stares in utter shock to see that, along with the sword being dented and worse for wear, it is almost completely rusted.

Elsa’s mouth drops. “What did you _do_ to it?” She accuses, not taking her eyes from the pathetic weapon.

Anna keels, bending at the waist and supporting her elbows on her knees, roaring with surprised laughter.

Elsa frowns, noticing something, and narrows her eyes – trying to get a better look at the sword.

“Is that . . . is that _blood?_ ” Elsa asks, complete disbelief washing over her features as she turns to her adopted sibling. “You forgot to _clean your sword?_ ” She cries. Anna roars louder in affirmation. Elsa hits Anna as hard as she can without hurting herself. “How do you forget to do that? How does that honestly slip your mind?” Elsa reprimands.

Anna’s laughing only grows worse. “I don’t know!” She wheezes.

It’s when Anna starts snorting that Elsa loses it. Doubling over and barking in astonished laughter, she shouts: “I can’t believe you!”

“I can’t either!” Anna hoots, practically howling by this point.

Jasper stares at the royals in absolute shock. He glances at the other commanding officers, looking at their facial expressions to confirm that this is actually happening. His face twists in confusion when he realizes that yes, yes it is.

Anna can barely see. She’s laughing so hard she’s crying, and the situation is so bizarre that she can only hope to right herself with any form of dignity.

Someone slaps her helm.

Shocked, Anna looks up to see Elsa brushing herself off and clearing her throat, trying to get a hold of herself. Anna tries not to laugh, but it comes out instead as a long, high-pitched whine. Anna can see Elsa’s jaw muscle bulge as she tries to keep in her laughter, which only makes Anna worse. Elsa glowers at the younger woman, but Anna can see her lips twitching it keep everything in. She wants to poke Elsa’s side just to see if her laughter will pop out of her, but thinks better of it.

This is not the time.

Clearing her throat loudly and longer than is strictly necessary, Anna rights herself—though not without complaint from her ribs—and nods to the enemy officers. She glances at her sword, still being held by the Green, and gestures to it idly. “You can keep it, if you want.” Elsa snorts. Anna gives Elsa an ignorant look too innocent to be real. “It’s not polite to laugh.”

Elsa raises an eyebrow and gives Anna a pointed look. Anna shrugs. Elsa turns back to the enemy officers and, just like that, her queenly façade is firmly back in place.

“Princess Anna’s weapons are discarded as per your request.” Elsa says, far more formally than—in Anna’s option—is really necessary. “So might I suggest you bring us to the captain’s cabin to discuss our possible peace treaty?”

*

Jasper has no idea what to think of the queen and princess of Arendelle.

After the fiasco on the deck he thought he would be dealing with something completely different then what actually confronted him in the room. Elsa turned back into the poised, regal queen he expected in the first place, but with Anna here her answers and mood swing left or right on a fly, leaving Jasper scrambling to keep up.

Anna is in a whole ballpark all on her own; one that she has decided is still fit to play in even though it’s half flooded and the ground is torn up and soppy. It wouldn’t be that bad if Anna didn’t have this gnarly habit of dragging Elsa into that said ballpark and chucking her into puddles with unbelievably inappropriate timing.

If Jasper could deal with was just one girl or the other he would be able to read them and work with them normally, but the two together create a random, unpredictable maelstrom. One moment one girl supports one side, and the next the other supports it but the first one doesn’t, or they bicker about why they have the _same opinion_. They argue over things that hold no relevance yet, in the next moment, they are in frighteningly perfect synch over complicated matters that they’ve both somehow wrapped their head around without so much as blink.

Individually Elsa and Anna are completely different _manageable_ beasts, but together—all random behaviour aside—they have a combined consciousness that finds every loophole in every possible armistice draft they’ve come up with. Hell, they find loopholes that Jasper himself never would have noticed.

However, because of this, the two royals have refused every draft they’ve drawn up.

The Blue officer sighs and scratches out yet another full page of notes and flips the parchment over, once again starting from the top.

“Do you guys even want peace?” He suddenly asks, staring at the two women with an accusing stare. “If you’re just here to waste our time it’s better if you just leave.”

Jasper tenses. He watches as the royals narrow their eyes in parallel, but it’s Anna who challenges the man. She leans her elbows on the table, sliding her helm slightly to be out of the way to clear her line of sight.

“If you allow us to have a peace worth having than yes, we want it. If you are unwilling to give us that, then why don’t _you_ stop wasting _our_ time and _tell us_ to leave.” Anna says, tilting her head in challenge.

Jasper raises an eyebrow and glances to the Blue, who simply stares at Anna, bewildered.

“How about this.” The Brown officer says, drawing the women’s attention away from the Blue, much to his relief. “You want us to leave you alone and never bother you again. We are under direct pressure to win. How about you get everyone currently in Arendelle out of the city and leave, we don’t care where, and you let us raze the city. You all get out alive and live happily ever after, and we get to go home and report victory.”

“No.” Elsa and Anna say in unison. The Brown grits his teeth.

“The city is probably riddled with foundation cracks and it’s already lying in ruin. There’s nothing left standing that isn’t damaged in some form or another. Tell me, what is honestly worth saving?” He hisses, trying his best to keep his cool. Elsa gives him a level stare.

“Let’s say we accept. You go home and report victory. Your rulers—kings, queens, dukes, tyrants, whatever—now thinks that their military is able to overpower magic. Compared to a mage, who could possibly stand in their way, they think. What if they decide to further conquest because they think they are unstoppable? What if Anna, the remaining Arendelle citizens and I just happen to be in one of the nations one of your rulers decides to attack? This isn’t about preserving Arendelle, it’s about preventing any of this from ever happening again.” Elsa says, her eyes boring into the Brown’s. He squirms. “We will not settle for meager terms. Either you give us a solid agreement or we will fight and continue fighting until we level this fleet. To be honest, though . . .” She leans forward, her eyes darkening. “I don’t think your soldiers’ moral will last that long.”

Jasper frowns and clenches his jaw. Who would have thought the rulers of such a puny nation would have such gumption? With numbers piled against them you’d think that, even with the Ice Queen as their leader, that they’d be more willing to sacrifice a few values to create peace.

Jesus. He wasn’t prepared for this.

Or the soldiers. Jasper’s jaw tightens. When the soldiers saw the royals’ laughing and cracking jokes upon their arrival, two things happened. The first was that the men and women actually started to look like they liked the royal duo—which makes it far harder trying to convince them to kill the pair—and the second . . . it scared the shit out of them. The two leaders of a tiny nation, surrounded and alone, were confident enough laugh and indirectly insult the commanding officers of the force set to annihilate them.

So as much as Jasper hates to admit it, Elsa’s right. Especially after that sword incident spreads to the whole fleet—which he has no doubt is already well on its way—moral won’t last more than a week if the fighting continues. It’s already dangerously low as it is.

Gritting his teeth, he interrupts the White officer currently speaking. “Okay.” He says, paying no head to the dirty look the White sends him. “Obviously our side of the table is going about this all wrong, and since we don’t know what we’re doing wrong, why don’t you two start from scratch and tell us what you want. Our side of the table will remain quiet,” he gives his officers a pointed look, “while you tell us what you are willing to accept and what you are not. After you’re finished, we will jump in and say what parts we agree with and which parts we would like to amend. Acceptable?”

Elsa and Anna glance at each other. While Elsa remains unreadable, Anna looks immensely happy. When Elsa gives a barely-there nod, Anna beams Jasper a heart-stopping grin and accepts gratefully; but even though it’s the younger of the pair who accepts, it’s ultimately the queen who lays down the terms.

“You attacked us because you were scared.” Elsa begins, apparently intending to explain her reasoning before getting to the important part. “You were scared of me and that fear spread unrightfully to the population of Arendelle. However, other than that, I see nothing in you or your officers that makes me despise you or your home nations. Your soldiers offer a fierce loyalty to the cause they have been signed to, but most that I’ve met—no matter how hard they fight for this cause—actually seem to hold a personal vengeance against Arendelle. If they did it is because they are bitter at all the losses they have faced and simply want to go home.”

Elsa rubs her lip, her eyes downcast to the table in thought. “I saw how the soldiers on the deck looked at me and Anna after the sword episode. It was something akin to wonder, as if they simply couldn’t believe how . . . normal, it felt. So here’s my catch; if the nations you all represent know that Arendelle bears no ill will to them if they bear no ill will to us, then I have a treaty that will benefit all of us. However, I need to know that your nations are willing to let this grudge born of fear go. If you can promise me that, then I can promise you peace.”

Jasper pauses for a moment. He glances to the other officers, gauging their opinions. Except from the uncertain furrow the Green officer shows, the rest seem willing to listen. Jasper turns back to the queen.

“This isn’t something that we can just guarantee.” He says, slowly. “It would take time and, ultimately, sailing back home to confirm the conditions and the opinion of the population. However, if the treaty is admirable, we would be willing to leave—prolonging our cease-fire—until everything is confirmed. Is that okay?”

Elsa’s face lights up with a kind but conservative smile. “It would be more than okay.”

Jasper smiles, glad to finally be getting somewhere. “So what is this beneficial treaty you speak of?”

Elsa nods, sober again. “Along with a treaty from every nation for a permanent cease-fire and for no ships from any of your nations—including ours to yours—to enter our or your nations’ boundaries without permission, I suggest trade routes.”

Jasper blinks. Did he hear that correctly?

“What?” Anna blurts, turning to the Ice Queen.

Yes, yes he did.

“Think about it.” Elsa says, intent on explaining her position to the princess before the officers can say anything. “Arendelle needs supplies to rebuild and these nations want to know Arendelle and my ice powers are on their side. When a war ends without a set victor, both sides stay rigid and anxious, wondering who is going to make the next move. By establishing trade relations we null the fear that any of us are going to strike each other.

“With trade agreements you can also tell if a nation is getting testy with you just by the way they address you, or the goods you sent, or the way they handle the renewal of the contract. Trade agreements carry a stronger weight than a cease-fire treaty, because with the latter everyone just goes back home and nothing happens. A trade agreement is often seen as unofficial alliance ties, meaning they’re more likely to help each other when the need arises.

“A trade agreement just isn’t about the trade, it’s a salve that’s spread over an open wound to help it heal. All it needs to work is for the parties involved to want the same thing – lasting peace.” Elsa says, finally turning to the other officers, weighing the effects of her words on each of them.

Internally, Jasper applauds the woman.

How could one woman be so goddamn smart?

Even he has to admit it – it’s the perfect solution. It’s not riddled with unnecessary defensive and demanding terms that threaten ill-will in the future, and it’s not in any way favouring any nation over the other.

Well, he amends, when it comes to traded goods Arendelle is extremely favoured, but when it comes to the Ice Queen herself becoming an asset to the other nations, it is the five nations who are favoured.

Hell, they could even threaten aggressive nations that they’d sic the Ice Queen on them if they don’t behave. That doesn’t mean they actually would—or that the queen would actually agree—but it’d definitely work in avoiding unneeded conflict.

He never thought he’d be so happy the Queen of Arendelle is outrageously genius.

“Personally, I love it.” Jasper says, a delighted smile tugging at his lips. “I honestly could never think of a more perfect arrangement.”

By speaking first—the head commander of the biggest nation—he knows he successfully quells any questions or rebuttals from the other officers. He turns to them nonetheless.

“What do you all think?” He asks, already knowing what their answer will be. With affirmative answers all around, Jasper beams and grins at the royals. “Why don’t we draw up our temporary cease-fire agreement, along with our formal individual cease-fire and trade agreements? With that done we can all head home immediately and get everything finalized.”

*

Throughout the next three hours the officers left and returned periodically, grabbing food, water and fresh air in between spaces they weren’t needed. Some food and water was brought to the girls, who had to stay in the cabin the entire time to draw up all the different agreements.

While Elsa was finishing up the last of the contracts, she tells Anna that she can go get some fresh air. Anna doesn’t complain.

For the most part all Anna did was listen as everything was drawn up. She would have put in her two cents worth, but it was wholly unneeded. Elsa seemed to have thought of everything, and anything Anna could have added was said by Elsa long before she had a chance.

So, grabbing her helm from the table, Anna pats Elsa’s shoulder and leaves the cabin.

Outside the cabin door Jasper and the Blue chat quietly, obviously content and speaking in pleased tones. When they spot Anna, the Blue nods respectfully and Jasper smiles widely.

“Are you two done in there?” He asks, politely waiting as Anna yawns—covering it with the back of her free hand—and stretches.

Anna smiles tiredly and waves her hand absently as she walks out onto the deck. Jasper follows by her side. “Almost. Elsa’s just finishing up with, uh . . . you know, what’s-his-face – that white and orange guy.” Jasper gives a startled laugh, drawing even more attention towards them than they already had. Anna shifts uncomfortably under the stares.

Jasper seems to notice her unrest and smiles, walking her to the bow of the ship. “Let them.” He soothes. “The more at ease they see you, especially with me, the better. Not only will it raise their opinions of you – it will also help boost morale, which is something I desperately need them to have.”

They stop at the nose of the ship and look out. Anna can see the little, broken city she calls home in the distance. She smiles dimly.

“It looks so puny.” She says.

“That’s what I’ve been saying.” Jasper says, the light amused twinkle in his eye mixes momentarily with something darker. “It wasn’t easy.” He admits suddenly, crossing his arms over his chest. “I kept watching assault after assault that no amount of time or numbers could ever seem to give me an edge. There’s no way to describe how useless I felt.”

“It wasn’t easy being on the receiving end, either.” Anna mutters, her eyes glazing in memory. “It felt like no matter how long I fought or how many people I killed that the assaults would never end. Each battle is a haze of struggling bodies and swinging swords and spattered blood and an awful stench I don’t think I’ll ever recover from.”

Jasper stares at her, considering. “You shouldn’t be telling me this, not while the contracts are yet to be confirmed.” Anna laughs.

“I’m not worried.” She smiles, leaning her hip against the railing and holding her helm against her abdomen. “Because I know that if you can get over your human emotions enough to oppose me and Elsa again, I know that I will fight. I’m resilient that way. I will continue to fight until I’m no longer needed, even if I don’t want to. I’m hoping I can set my blood-spilling days behind me with those contracts, however.”

Jasper smiles. “Optimistic, I see.” Anna smiles in return. The way Jasper regards her, though, makes her believe he can spot the brokenness in it.

“All one really has is hope. You just have to let go enough to believe everything is going to turn out alright.” Anna says, looking back out to the distant shape of Arendelle. She sighs, rubbing the back of her neck. “God, where you always this far away? I mean, it doesn’t feel like I walked _that far_ to get here.” She frowns and looks into the sky. “Yeah, there’s no way we’ll be getting back before sunset. Especially if Elsa takes any longer. Geez, this is going to be a pain in the ass.”

Jasper barks a laugh. “I never thought I’d see the day.” He hoots. Anna looks to him, confused.

“What do you mean? What day?” She asks. Jasper grins.

“A swearing warrior princess with no care for etiquette who somehow remains highly respectable and loved.” He replies, shrugging. Anna gives him an odd look.

“We’re not adding marriage to the table.” She states bluntly. Jasper gives her strange look, one Anna determines as a mix of amusement, confusion and shock.

“Firstly, how did you not find some of that insulting and two, someone can compliment you without wanting to give you a ring.” He says, a smirk tugging at his lips.

“Firstly, etiquette was the first damn thing I throw out the window after everything hit the rocks and secondly, uh huh. You keep telling yourself that.” Anna says, in a joking manner Jaspers notes isn’t exactly as playful as she lets on.

Anna hears footsteps approaching her from behind. She turns and sees who she assumes to be a petty officer. She raises an eyebrow and examines the newcomer.

The man stops a couple meters away, crossing his arms over his chest as he inspects Anna. When his raises his eyes to meet Anna’s, she can tell he isn’t impressed.

“You’re the one we’re creating a peace treaty with? The girl who brought a demented rusty sword into the middle of the enemy fleet?”

“Kevin.” Jasper growls, taking a threatening step forward. Anna raises her hand to stop him. Jasper gives Anna a confused look but obeys. Kevin laughs bitterly.

“Wow, she’s really got you wrapped around her finger, doesn’t she?” Kevin asks, glowering at Jasper. “With such poor skills with taking care of her weapons, I doubt she’s worth the time of day you’re giving her.”

A slow, challenging smile spreads across Anna’s face. “Okay.” Anna says, in a even tone with a chipper edge that makes Kevin turn to her with a frown. Anna looks behind him and cups a hand around her mouth. “Hey Elsa!” She calls, stilling all activity on the deck. Elsa, just walking out of the captain’s cabin, turns to her with a frown. “I need four solid cylinder practice swords with hilts, two for me and two for him.”

Jasper’s eyes widen in surprise, as do Kevin’s. Elsa tilts her head, confused and concerned, and starts making her way to the younger girl. Anna grins and skips to meet her, Kevin and Jasper in tow.

“Why?” Elsa calls as they continue approaching each other.

Anna jabs her thumb over her shoulder. “That lout wants to see if my fighting skills are worth the time of day the officers are giving us.”

Elsa frowns as finally comes to a stop in front of each other. Elsa gives a questioning glance to Jasper, who Anna sees shrug in response, before turning back to Anna.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea.” Elsa says, slowly.

“I have to agree.” Jasper says. “There’s no telling what effect it will have.”

Anna grins. “A positive one.” She chirps, turning heel to face Kevin. Her now wolfish grin nearly splits her face as she wriggles her eyebrows in challenge. “First one to five solid hits wins?”

Kevin seems taken aback, but soon his aggressive façade is back in place and he nods sharply.

“Bring it on.” He says.

Puffing her chest in victory, Anna puts on her helm and holds her hands at the ready in front of her. Kevin, Jasper and the rest of the crew stare at her strangely. After a couple awkward seconds she tilts her head to Elsa.

“Come on, Elsa!” Anna goads. Elsa’s frown depends.

“This is a bad idea.” She mutters, but does as Anna wishes nonetheless. She waves her hand and the weapons Anna requested appear between her curled fingers. Anna grabs them immediately after the hilts finish forming and bounces on her toes. Jasper starts ushering the crew towards the railings, giving the duelling pair the space they’ll need for the battle.

Elsa turns to Kevin, patently not happy with him for causing this to happen. “Do you want two swords, one sword, a sword and a shield or two shields?” She asks.

“Ice shields are heavy as hell.” Anna remarks, frowning at the memory. By the look on Kevin’s face it’s obvious he thinks Anna is trying to trick him. Elsa notices.

“If you want a shield I can summon it, but if it’s too heavy I won’t give you another weapon.” Elsa says, her displeasure practically dripping off her words. Anna grins.

Kevin considers for a moment. He nods to himself and looks to Elsa. “A small forearm shield and a sword.” He says, waiting. Beat. Elsa raises an eyebrow when he doesn’t get the hint.

“You need to raise the arm to want to have the shield and have your hand at the ready to grasp the sword.” Elsa explains, as if talking to a child. Anna almost barks a laugh, but manages to holds it back. Barely.

Kevin flushes, muttering bitterly under his breath as he raises one arm into a shield position and the other into a lax sword position. Elsa waves her hand. A small forearm shield appears over the sleeve of his tunic and the sword creates itself between his fingers. He grasps the sword hilt. He yelps and drops the sword, shaking his hand.

This time Anna can’t help it. She laughs. Kevin glares at her.

“It’s freezing.” He growls. “How do you expect me to hold that?”

Anna hoots, putting the flat tips on her swords to the floor to support herself. She nods to the shield on his arm. “You’re not complaining about the shield.”

Kevin gestures angrily to his sleeve. “Because I’m protected by my tunic!” When Anna laughs harder, he snaps: “What is so goddamn funny?”

“You already answered your own question!” Anna says, trying to right herself and stay that way as she suppresses her humour. “All you need is a _glove_.”

Kevin’s face turns scarlet. It brightens even further when some of the crew snicker quietly. Anna sees Jasper shake his head in aspiration. The commander pulls a leather glove from his pocket and throws it at Kevin, who barely manages to catch it.

“Please don’t embarrass yourself more than you already have.” Jasper drones, crossing his arms over his chest. Kevin growls and mutters under his breath, but puts on the glove and picks up the practice sword without further complaint.

Anna twirls her swords and points one at Jasper and one at Elsa. “You two are the judges. A solid hit only counts if you both agree it lands. Call it a trust building exercise.” She turns to Kevin. “Rules are simple; if you try to kill instead of duel you’re disqualified. Kapish?”

Kevin nods sharply and readies his weapons. Anna grins. By the look in his eye and the fact he didn’t mention his lack of armour in comparison to hers, the princess can only assume he believes himself to be at an advantage. In a way he’s right – armour slows you down and even the slightest hit to the metal will create a ping.

Too bad she’s spent the last six weeks in constant combat while he’s been sitting on a ship.

Anna grins, her swords at the ready, and waits.

Kevin doesn’t wait for Jasper or Elsa to start the match—if they even were going to—and lunges.

Anna surprises herself with a joyful laugh as she easily knocks away the sword and spins around Kevin.

This used to be fun, didn’t it?

An easy smile spreads over her lips and her stance relaxes. She almost lazily deflects, redirects and dances around the man with an ease she hasn’t had since everything went to hell.

*

Jasper watches the fight in fascination.

It literally looks as if Anna is letting herself be swept by the wind. Her stance is completely at ease, yet all of her effortless deflections land with a solid clank. Her body moves continuously and without interruption as she plays with the officer.

Yes, Jasper nods to himself, Anna is actually playing. Her movements and her actions concur that she’s not mocking the petty officer – she’s simply enjoying herself. Her occasional jubilant laughter only serves to prove his theory.

He glances at the crew, who watch with riveted fascination, and then to the four commanders who openly stare, examining the young girl’s easy fighting style. It’s obvious they’re trying to figure out how it’s effective at all during battle, but Jasper knows they’re thinking about it all wrong.

This isn’t a battle to Anna. In an actual fight Jasper knows her entire way of behaving would morph into something more sober. Why?

Real fighting, with real stakes, isn’t fun.

Jasper grins as Kevin growls in frustration, temporarily breaking and examining his opponent, doing a double take that he probably should have way sooner.

Anna, for her part, laughs softly and continues to sway easily, keeping her unnaturally effortless movements flowing.

When Kevin engages again, Anna yelps in delight and, with a fit of giggles, proceeds to practically run the man in circles around her.

Jasper chances a glance to Elsa. To his surprise her gaze has softened and a barely-there smile graces her lips. Is this what the royal pair used to be like?

He hopes this is what they used to be like.

He looks back to the fight, with Anna laughing as Kevin pants – his excessive movements start taking their toll on him.

“Come on, Anna, we have to go home.” Elsa says, her stoic—but definitely softer—queenly persona back in place.

“Okay!” Anna chimes, and, just like that, Anna whacks away Kevin’s sword and shield and lands three solid hints to his chest, thigh and stomach. Kevin doubles and Anna lands two more blows on his side ribs and back. Just like that, the match is over.

 _No wonder we couldn’t breech the city_. Jasper thinks, his eyes wide.

Elsa nods. “I say all those hits landed. How about you?” She asks, turning to Jasper. He stares at her as if he can’t believe she’s even bothering to ask.

“I’d have to of been blind if I didn’t see them land.” He says. Elsa hums, thoughtful.

“You’d be surprised.” She murmurs. Before Jasper can question her, Elsa is already waving her hand—dispelling the weapons—and walking towards the bow of the ship. Anna happy skips up behind her and easily takes her place on the queen’s right.

Stretching out her arm as they approach the railing, a bridge appears out of nowhere and the pair climb it without so much as a pause.

Before they start to descend, Elsa stops and turns to Jasper. “Thank you for your hospitality. With peaceful intentions, you will always be welcome in Arendelle.” She nods respectfully and turns heel, disappearing over the railing. After a couple seconds the ice bridge dissipates, telling Jasper the royals are on the water and already walking the long trek home.

He glances over to Kevin, pushing weakly to his feet, and rolls his eyes. He turns, walks, and ascends the stairs to the bridge, where his second in command stands in beside the helm.

“All ships except the ones collecting the ground forces are to break formation and head home immediately.” Jasper says. The officer stares at him in shock.

“Are you sure, sir?” He asks.

“I’ve just spend the last three and a half hours making sure.” He murmurs, glancing out as he finally sees the queen and princess over the bow. He stares at their retreating form, thoughtful. “Spread the word.” He says, turning heel and heading towards his cabin. “Let’s get out of here.” He whispers, too softly for his officer to hear.

*

Anna stares out at the ocean from the ruins of Arendelle castle.

It’s been two days, but finally all the ships have left.

Everyone still remains on high alert; snow creatures still roam the perimeter and the entry to the fjord and city is still iced off, but it’s over. After they saw the land troops being reloaded onto their respective ships, the war council started setting plans to rebuild the city. With Elsa’s creatures to help with heavy loads and work in place of all the relocated and dead citizens, they suspect the city will look half-decent within a year. After the city has been taken care of, then they’ll move on to rebuilding the castle.

In the meantime everyone will remain in the underground system. Their current military alert status justifies it, but it will remain active until the city actually recovers. This means the relocated citizens won’t be allowed to return until the city deemed safe enough to return to.

All and all, though, these are all things that Anna can live with.

Arendelle’s current population without the regular citizens is quite frankly pathetic, but they can’t risk bringing everyone back if the treaties fall through. That’s why the city is still on military defense – if they were to be caught unawares, the city would fall within hours, and that generous number is only because of Elsa.

Anna sighs softly through her nose as she hears the faint calls of celebration echoing from the town.

 _Good_. Anna thinks, nodding softly to herself. The soldiers deserve to be rejoice after the hell they’ve been through.

Letting her head fall back to the broken stone behind her, Anna continues staring out into sea – staring at the floating wreckage that still rips open fresh emotional wounds, reminding her of everything that had to be lost to get here.

She hears the crunch of boots approaching her. She doesn’t bother looking to see who it is.

“Hey, Elsa.” Anna murmurs as the person nears her. She vaguely gestures to the spot in front of her. Elsa complies and quietly sits down across from the girl, leaning back against the broken walls of their old home.

Elsa offers Anna some freshly cooked meat. Anna turns and tilts her head curiously. Elsa shrugs.

“I made some snow animals with the purpose of hunting. The soldiers left the land around Arendelle more barren than I would have liked, but at least snow beings have no need to rest – they had to go quite far to get this.” She shrugs. Anna takes the meat from her.

Anna nods gratefully. “Good thing you did, our stores were getting quite low.”

“I know, that’s why I did it.” Elsa says, frowning as her eye catches wreckage from a ship banging against the rocks below them. Anna lets the older woman loose herself in her thoughts and takes a bite of the meat. She hums.

“This is good.” She mutters, not needing to raise her voice very high to travel in the silence. “And warm. God, it’s been a long time since I had a warm meal.” Elsa smiles dimly.

“It’s been a long time for a lot of things.” She says, rubbing her eyes gently with her forefinger and her thumb.

“Yeah.” Anna breathes, looking around. Now that the fighting is over, the extent of city’s damage really starts to dawn on her. “Is it worth it, fixing this place up?” She asks, quietly. Elsa glances to her, takes a moment to take her in, and sighs softly through her nose.

“I thought about that.” Elsa admits. “In the end it really wasn’t about what was practical, but about symbolism. To other nations it shows we are indestructible, that we can pack a punch and take immeasurable damage and still be able to get back on our feet. More importantly, though, it’s for all the soldiers celebrating down there.” Anna gives Elsa a questioning look. The queen explains. “They’ve been fighting, getting injured and loosing friends in the defense of Arendelle. How would it make them feel if, after all that, we simply walk away and take up homes somewhere else? They fought for their home, this home, and I owe it to them to make it whole again.”

Anna smiles affectionately. “For being a so called ice queen, you’re the kindest person I know.” She reaches out and takes one of Elsa’s gloved hands in her gauntleted one. “None of us could have done this without you, Elsa. Not the fighting, not the planning and definitely not those perfect peace contracts you drew up. I’m proud of you, and I’m proud to be with you.”

Elsa’s eyes mist over and she turns her head away. Anna smiles and leans forward. Gently taking Elsa’s chin in her hand, she forces the older girl to meet her eyes. Anna’s smile widens when those affectionate, tender eyes meet her own. “I love you.” She whispers.

A happy sob rips quietly past Elsa’s lips and Anna gently coaxes the older girl towards her. She kisses Elsa softly, lovingly, and then cradles the girl in her arms, whispering sweet nothings about how it’s fine – it’s alright.

Because now everything is going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I officially started writing this thing on April 1 (at 1:08PM, according to the document properties). Probably a new record for me, writing 47 pages complete with editing all within ten days. Kinda cool, once you think about it.
> 
> Anyway, I was thinking of making a part two (about the same length as this one) as something of an epilogue / see-what-the-hell-actually-happens after the ships leave. It won’t take place immediately after end of this one, but definitely within two years. If any of you are interested in reading it please let me know; otherwise I’ll only end up only writing it if I feel like it, which might wind up being never. If you want it, you can also request I write in certain things – I won’t promise I’ll actually use it, but I can definitely promise to consider it.
> 
> So, cheers and thanks for reading!


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